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LIBRARY 

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UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

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LIFE    OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 


LIFE 


OF 


EDWARD   LIVINGSTON 


CHARLES  HAVENS  HUNT. 


WITH    AN    INTRODUCTION 


GEORGE    BANCROFT. 


NEW  YORK: 
D.   APPLETON  AND  COMPANY, 

443  AND  445  BROADWAY. 
1864. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1863,  by 

CHARLES  H.  HUNT, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of 
New  York. 


RIVERSIDE,   CAMBRIDGE: 
STEREOTYPED  AND  PRINTED  BY  H.  O.  HOUGHTON. 


TO 
A.     DE     P.     H. 

WHO  HAS  WATCHED  THE  COMPOSITION  OF  THE  FOLLOWING 
CHAPTERS  WITH  A  STEADIER  INTEREST  THAN  THEIR  TOPICS 
ALONE  COULD  HAVE  INSPIRED,  THE  WRITER  DEDICATES  HIS 
WORK. 


PREFACE. 


HAVING  been  intrusted  by  the  Editors  of  the  "New 
American  Cyclopaedia "  with  the  task  of  preparing 
the  notices  of  Robert  R.  and  Edward  Livingston 
which  appeared  in  that  work,  I  conceived  an  un 
expected  interest  in  the  career  of  the  younger  of 
these  brothers,  and  resolved  to  write  a  more  extended 
sketch  of  his  life,  such  as  the  public  and  common 
sources  of  information  would  enable  me  to  do.  In 
pursuance  of  that  plan,  a  considerable  part  of  the 
following  work  was  composed,  including  the  chap 
ters  upon  the  Livingston  genealogy,  the  first  con 
gressional  career  of  Edward  Livingston,  his  contro 
versy  with  Jefferson,  and  his  system  of  penal  law, 
which  were  finished  in  their  present  form.  I  was 
proceeding  to  fill  up  other  parts  of  the  outline,  when 
an  acquaintance  which  I  formed  with  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Thomas  P.  Barton,  the  only  survivors  of  Mr.  Liv 
ingston's  immediate  family,  led  to  my  acquisition 
of  the  best  materials  for  the  remainder  of  the  work. 
Besides  taking  the  greatest  pains  to  satisfy  all  my 
particular  inquiries,  they  in  the  kindest  manner,  and 
without  reserve  or  material  restriction,  placed  in  my 
hands  the  whole  mass  of  papers  left  by  Mr.  Living 
ston  at  his  death,  a  collection,  it  needs  hardly  be  said, 
of  great  interest  and  value,  as  well  for  more  general 


x  PREFACE. 

researches  as  for  that  to  which  my  attention  was  de 
voted. 

In  the  use  which  has  been  made  of  these  materials 
I  have  followed  very  strictly  my  own  judgment  and 
method,  which  was  to  confine  myself  to  the  presen 
tation  of  such  matter  only  as  would  place  in  the 
best  and  plainest  light  the  genius  and  character  of  a 
man,  an  account  of  whose  life,  both  full  and  concise, 
I  thought  our  American  biography  not  rich  enough 
to  well  afford  to  dispense  with. 

I  have  received  valuable  hints,  pieces  of  informa 
tion,  or  clews  to  information,  from  several  other 
friendly  hands.  Among  these  I  may  mention  by 
name  the  late  Honorable  Charles  J.  Ingersoll,  the 
late  Honorable  Henry  Carleton,  (both  of  whose  com 
munications,  though  given  with  true  vivacity,  were 
spoken  from  the  very  door  of  the  tomb,)  Mrs.  Joseph 
Delafield,  Mrs.  Henry  D.  Gilpin,  Miss  Mary  Garret- 
son,  the  Honorable  George  M.  Dallas,  the  Hon 
orable  Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  the  Honorable  George 
Bancroft,  David  Codwise,  Esquire,  Augustus  R.  Mac- 
donough,  Esquire,  A.  Judson  Kneeland,  Esquire,  W. 
Coventry  H.  Waddell,  Esquire,  Henry  B.  Dawson, 
Esquire,  George  H.  Moore,  Esquire,  and  William 
Henry  Forman,  Esquire. 

The  late  Honorable  Henry  D.  Gilpin,  who  was 
Attorney-General  in  the  cabinet  of  Mr.  Van  Buren, 
and  one  of  the  most  accomplished  among  American 
public  men,  enjoyed  a  long  political  and  personal 
intimacy  with  the  subject  of  this  volume.  He  was 
the  author  of  the  sketch  of  Mr.  Livingston  which 
appeared,  before  the  death  of  the  latter,  in  the  "Na 
tional  Portrait  Gallery."  He  afterwards  read  a  nec- 
rological  notice  of  Livingston  before  the  American 


PREFACE.  x{ 

Philosophical  Society,  which  has  been  published. 
And  he  intended,  and  began  to  write  a  more  ex 
tended  life  of  his  friend,  for  which  purpose  he  had 
in  his  possession  the  same  manuscript  materials  which 
I  have  now  employed.  But  he  had  not  proceeded 
far  in  this  task  when  its  fulfilment  was  precluded 
by  his  own  untimely  end. 

I  am  enabled  to  introduce  my  work  by  an  estimate 
of  the  character  of  its  subject,  made  by  one  whose 
studies  all  will  recognize  as  qualifying  him  in  an  emi 
nent  degree  to  compare  Livingston  with  the  founders 
of  the  Republic.  It  is  a  satisfaction  to  find  that  my 
own  impressions  do  not  differ  from  those  of  the  dis 
tinguished  author  of  the  Introduction,  who,  as  it  may 
be  proper  to  say,  is  not  responsible  for  any  of  the 
views  or  expressions  in  the  text,  of  which  he  did 
not  see  any  part  until  after  it  was  printed. 

C.  H.  H. 

New  Torky  November  18,  1863. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  domestic  virtues,  the  sweetness  of  temper, 
the  charm  of  untroubled  cheerfulness  combined  with 
high  ability  and  culture,  endeared  Edward  Living 
ston  to  his  family  and  private  friends ;  for  the  coun 
try  his  life  derives  its  interest  from  his  intimate  rela 
tion  to  the  great  epochs  of  its  recent  history. 

Descended  from  families  which  at  an  early  period 
came  over  from  Scotland  and  from  Holland,  he  had 
from  childhood,  in  the  conduct  of  his  father,  an  ex 
ample  of  a  wise  and  deliberate  support  of  liberty 
against  the  aggressions  of  authority,  at  a  time  when 
America  held  her  liberties  as  colonies,  and  had  to 
defend  them  against  the  king  and  the  parliament  of 
Great  Britain. 

As  he  was  just  passing  out  of  the  years  of  boyhood, 
the  great  event  that  instilled  into  his  mind  and  af 
fections  the  principles  which  he  was  to  follow  for 
life  was  the  American  Declaration  of  Independence; 
and  this  he  took  to  heart  with  a  peculiar  interest,  as 
his  eldest  brother,  the  guide  of  his  early  life,  was  one 
of  the  five  to  whom  the  framing  of  that  instrument 
was  intrusted. 

The  country  was  found  to  languish  in  the  prose 
cution  of  the  war,  from  a  want  of  executive  unity, 


xiv  INTRODUCTION. 

and  for  this  a  remedy  was  sought  in  the  appointment 
of  individuals  to  manage  the  several  departments; 
as  a  consequence,  the  elder  brother  of  Edward  Living 
ston  became  the  first  American  Secretary  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  and  while  in  that  post  took  the  prominent 
part  in  recognising  the  most  generous  code  of  mari 
time  freedom  as  the  rule  of  the  United  States.  In 
this  manner  the  younger  brother  grew  familiar  at 
once  with  the  most  liberal  system  of  international 
law,  and  the  necessity  of  a  closer  and  firmer  cohesion 
of  the  integral  parts  of  his  country. 

The  inefficiency  of  the  confederate  government 
having  been  proved  by  experience  in  war  and  in 
peace,  the  United  States  proceeded  to  the  greatest 
achievement  in  the  civil  history  of  man,  the  forma 
tion  of  a  more  perfect  Union,  by  the  deliberate  act 
and  choice  of  the  people.  Of  all  the  old  thirteen 
States,  New  York  should  have  been  first  in  its  zeal 
for  the  advancement  of  that  sublime  design :  what 
evil  spell  of  party  spirit,  what  mistaken  interpreta 
tion  of  the  traditions  of  the  past,  what  selfish,  unen 
lightened  narrowness,  what  unreasonable  transfer  of 
the  well-founded  jealousy  of  the  power  of  king  and 
parliament  to  the  power  of  the  people,  could  have 
led  the  State  which  should  have  been  the  eye  and 
the  guide  of  the  nation,  to  doubt  and  seemingly  re 
sist  the  policy  which  was  so  fraught  with  blessings? 
There  again  the  elder  brother  of  Edward  Livingston 
separated  himself  from  his  misleading  political  friends, 
and  in  the  hour  of  greatest  need  gave  his  influence 
and  his  voice  for  the  new  triumphant  Union.  At 
this  moment  both  brothers  were  inspired  by  the  same 
anticipation  of  the  glory  of  their  country  and  the 
advancement  of  the  best  interests  of  man. 


INTRODUCTION.  xv 

Thus  far  Edward  Livingston  had  been  subordinate, 
and  his  opinions  and  zeal  were  effaced  by  the  supe 
rior  publicity  and  importance  of  the  efforts  of  his 
brother ;  the  time  was  come  for  his  own  public  ser 
vice.  The  Union  was  established,  but  even  in  the 
period  of  the  Father  of  his  Country  it  encountered 
one  insurrection,  and  before  John  Adams  had  been 
a  twelvemonth  in  the  presidential  chair,  the  largest 
State  in  the  Union  prepared  by  separate  action,  as  its 
statute-book  shows  and  its  historian  records,  "  to  fight 
for  her  sovereignty."  How  to  meet  the  danger  was 
the  question  that  agitated  the  nation  :  one  party  saw 
safety  in  aggressive  acts  of  legislation,  tending  to  re 
straint  on  the  free  expression  of  opinion,  and  to  a 
dangerous  exercise  of  discretionary  power;  the  other 
sought  to  anchor  the  Union  in  the  affections  of  the 
people.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Edward  Liv 
ingston  first  became  known  to  the  country  by  pre 
eminent  activity;  and  it  was  with  his  marked  and 
most  effective  concurrence  that  the  support  of  the 
Union  was  incorporated  into  the  creed  and  the  heart 
and  the  life  of  the  democratic  party.  "  We  are  all 
federalists,  we  are  all  republicans,"  was  the  official 
summing  up  of  the  result;  the  Union  was  set  high 
above  political  conflict  as  the  dearest  possession  of 
all;  the  executive  powers  were  maintained  and  ex 
ercised  in  their  plenary  significance;  and  the  gov 
ernment  gained  time  to  harden  into  firmness  and  en 
durance.  It  was  even  said  that  the  powers  of  the 
General  Government  were  enlarged. 

Simple  and  frugal  in  his  personal  habits,  he  yet 
was  overtaken  by  the  severest  calamity  in  his  fortunes. 
Struck  down  by  the  yellow-fever,  caught  from  his 
visits  of  consolation  and  mercy  to  the  sufferers  among 


xvi  INTRODUCTION. 

the  poor  during  the  raging  of  that  disease  in  New- 
York,  he  recovered  from  a  desperate  illness  to  find 
that  he  had  been  defrauded  by  a  clerk,  and  that  he 
was  a  debtor  to  the  government  beyond  his  means 
of  immediate  payment.  Without  a  word  of  com 
plaint,  crimination,  or  excuse,  he  at  once  devoted 
his  inheritance,  his  acquisitions,  the  fruits  of  his  pro 
fessional  industry,  to  the  discharge  of  his  obligation 
to  the  government,  and,  for  near  a  score  of  years, 
gave  himself  no  rest,  till  he  had  paid  it,  principal 
and  interest,  without  defalcation. 

The  acquisition  of  Louisiana  opened  a  new  field 
of  activity  to  Edward  Livingston,  for  he  transferred 
his  home  to  New  Orleans,  and  the  gentleness  of  his 
character,  his  decision,  and  his  wisdom  pointed  him 
out  as  the  fit  legislator  to  blend  harmoniously  the 
conflicting  elements  of  the  territory.  We  had  ran 
somed  it  from  servitude  to  European  masters  with  a 
price ;  we  gave  a  charm  to  that  ransom  by  redeem 
ing  its  French  and  Spanish  inhabitants  into  civil 
equality  and  the  fullest  enjoyment  of  our  highest 
political  rights;  we  took  no  way  to  bind  them  to 
the  Union  forever,  but  by  welcoming  them  as  broth 
ers  to  all  its  unequalled  advantages  and  powers  and 
hopes.  It  fell  to  the  lot  of  Edward  Livingston,  as 
a  legislator,  to  adjust  the  old  municipal  laws,  derived 
from  France  and  Spain,  to  the  new  condition  of  the 
connection  with  America.  How  great  was  this  ser 
vice  may  be  judged  by  a  comparison  of  the  process 
in  Louisiana  with  a  similar  process  in  the  annexation 
of  Canada  to  the  British  empire. 

The  country  became  involved  in  war :  here  Liv 
ingston,  essentially  a  man  of  peace,  was  able  to  ren 
der  effective  aid;  his  habit  of  doing  justice  to  men 


INTRODUCTION.  xvii 

of  every  nation  had  made  him  the  friend  of  all, 
and  the  unity  of  action  of  all  the  races  of  Louisiana 
in  the  defence  of  the  common  country  may  in  some 
measure  be  traced  to  the  timely  wisdom  of  his 
counsels. 

Once  more  the  conflicts  of  party  turned  on  the 
question  of  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  A  spuri 
ous  aristocracy  claimed  a  right  for  every  State  which 
they  could  rule,  to  nullify  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  to  such  an  extent  as  would  have  made  the 
Constitution  like  a  ship  at  sea,  water-logged,  and  at  the 
mercy  of  every  wave  of  political  cupidity  or  passion. 
The  salvation  of  the  country  turned  on  the  right  in 
terpretation  of  the  principles  of  democracy.  Jeffer 
son,  its  early  leader,  was  no  more ;  but  Madison  lived 
long  enough  to  expound  its  acts  and  resolutions  of 
former  days ;  and  Jackson,  as  President  of  the  United 
States,  having  Livingston  as  his  adviser,  gave  author 
ity  to  that  exposition.  Who  that  looks  back  upon 
those  days  does  not  rejoice  that  the  chief  magistrate 
was  Jackson,  and  that  his  adviser  was  Edward  Liv 
ingston,  who  to  the  clearest  perceptions  and  the  firm 
est  purpose  added  a  calm,  conciliating  benignity  and 
the  venerableness  of  age,  enhanced  by  a  world-wide 
fame? 

That  fame  was  due  to  the  fact,  that  Edward  Liv 
ingston,  more  than  any  other  man,  was  the  represent 
ative  of  the  system  of  penal  and  legal  reform  which 
flows  by  necessity  from  the  nature  of  our  institutions. 
The  code  which  he  prepared  at  the  instance  of  the 
State  of  Louisiana  is  in  its  simplicity,  completeness, 
and  humanity  at  once  an  impersonation  of  the  man, 
and  an  exposition  of  the  American  constitutions.  If 
it  has  never  yet  been  adopted  as  a  whole,  it  has  proved 


xviii  INTRODUCTION. 

an  unfailing  fountain  of  reforms,  suggested  by  its 
principles.  In  this  work  more  than  in  any  other 
may  be  seen  the  character  and  life-long  faith  of  the 
author.  The  great  doctrines  which  it  develops 
will,  as  time  advances,  be  more  and  more  nearly 
reduced  to  practice,  for  they  are  but  the  expression 
of  true  philanthropy,  and,  as  even  the  heathen  said, 
"  Man  loves  his  fellow-man,  whether  he  will  or  no." 

GEORGE    BANCROFT. 

Ne*w  fork,  14  November,  1863. 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

CHAPTER  I. 
LIVINGSTON  MANOR  AND  THE  LIVINGSTONS.  i 

CHAPTER  II. 
BIRTH  AND  MINORITY  OF  EDWARD  LIVINGSTON. 

Birth  of  Edward  Livingston  —  The  Period  of  his  Minority  —  His 
Father's  Family  —  Judge  Robert  R.  Livingston  —  Margaret  Beek- 
man  —  The  second  Robert  Livingston  —  Judge  Livingston's  Ac 
tion  before  and  during  the  Revolution  —  His  Character  —  Charac 
ter  of  Margaret  Beekman 15 

CHAPTER  III. 
EDUCATION  AND  EARLY  ASSOCIATIONS. 

Departure  of  General  Montgomery  for  Canada  —  School  at  Esopus  — 
First  Constitution  of  New  York —  Robert  R.  Livingston —  Burn 
ing  of  Esopus  by  the  British  —  Destruction  of  the  Family  Mansion 
at  Clermont — Princeton  College — Dr.  Witherspoon  —  Study  of 
Law — Cultivation  of  Philosophy  and  Poetry  —  Lafayette  —  The 
Family  at  Clermont 29 

CHAPTER    IV. 

EARLY  PROFESSIONAL  CAREER. 

New  York  in  1785  — The  Bar  —  Federal  Hall  —  The  Mayor's  Court 
—  James  Duane  —  The  Case  of  Rutgers  versus  Waddington  — 
Richard  Varick  —  Egbert  Benson — John  Sloss  Hobart — Brock- 
holdst  Livingston —  Burr  and  Hamilton  —  Early  Professional  Career 
of  Edward  Livingston  —  His  Marriage  —  Election  to  Congress..  . .  46 


xx  CONTENTS. 

Page 

CHAPTER   V. 
Six  YEARS  IN  CONGRESS. 

A  Political  Canvass  in  1794  —  Eminent  Men  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  —  Andrew  Jackson  —  Address  to  the  President  —  Trials 
of  Randall  and  Whitney  —  Exertions  in  Behalf  of  American  Sea 
men —  Debates  on  Jay's  Treaty — Lafayette  at  Olmutz — Estab 
lishment  of  Naval  Department — Alien  and  Sedition  Measures  — 
Speech  against  the  Alien  Bill  —  John  Marshall — Debate  on  the 
Case  of  Jonathan  Robbins  —  Early  Attention  of  Mr.  Livingston  to 
the  Condition  of  Penal  Laws — Election,  in  the  House,  of  Jeffer 
son  to  the  Presidency 6 1 

CHAPTER   VI. 

OFFICES  AND  MISFORTUNES. 

Approaching  Change  in  Mr.  Livingston's  Career  —  Death  of  his 
Wife  —  Appointment  as  Attorney  of  the  United  States,  and  as 
Mayor  of  New  York — Variety  of  Functions  —  Germ  of  the  Liv 
ingston  Code  —  Manners  and  Tastes  —  Conduct  during  the  Preva 
lence  of  Yellow-Fever  in  the  City  —  The  incurring  of  a  Debt  to 
the  Government — Circumstances  of  the  Affair  —  Conduct  in  that 
Difficulty  —  Resignation  of  Offices  —  Honors  thereupon  received 

—  The  Purchase  of  Louisiana — Letter  from  Lafayette  —  Depart 
ure  for  New  Orleans 89 

CHAPTER   VII. 

EMIGRATION  TO  NEW  ORLEANS. 

Voyage,  and  Arrival  at  New  Orleans  —  The  City  and  its  Inhabitants 
in  1804. —  Mr.  Livingston's  Exertions  and  Success  at  the  Bar  — 
His  Homesickness  —  His  Professional  Character  and  Public  Spirit 

—  His  Code  of  Procedure  for  Louisiana — A  Confusion  of  Tongues 
in  the  Courts  —  Eloquence  of  Livingston  before  a  Masonic  Lodge 

—  His  Method  as  an  Advocate — His  Supremacy  at  the   Bar  — 
Note  from  Mazureau —  Mr.  Livingston's  Social  Traits —  His  Taste 
for  Mechanical   Invention — His  Second  Marriage — Prospects  of 
Pecuniary   Success  —  Obstacles  —  Calumnious    Attack    upon    Mr. 
Livingston  by  General  Wilkinson 1 1 1 

CHAPTER    VIII. 
THE  BATTURE  CONTROVERSY.  135 


CONTENTS.  XXJ 

Page 

CHAPTER   IX. 

DISAPPOINTMENT  AND  AFFLICTION. 

Temper  of  Mr.  Livingston  —  Condition  of  Affairs,  caused  by  the  De 
votion  of  his  Time  to  the  Batture  Enterprise  —  Anecdotes — A 
Scrap  of  Translation  —  Anxiety  to  end  the  Separation  from  his 
Children  —  Letters  of  Julia  —  Her  Death  —  Letters  to  Lewis  — 
The  latter  joins  his  Father 184 

CHAPTER   X. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS. 

Mr.  Livingston's  Services  in  the  Campaign — His  Qualifications  — 
His  Previous  Acquaintance  with  General  Jackson  —  Meeting  of 
Citizens  in  September,  1814 — Appointment  of  a  Committee  of 
Safety  —  Address  of  the  Committee  to  the  People  —  Successful 
Defence  of  Fort  Bowyer — Proclamations  by  Jackson  —  His  Ap 
pearance  and  Reception  in  the  City  —  His  Intimacy  with  Livingston 
—  Contrast  and  Concord  between  them  —  Multifarious  Services  of 
the  latter  during  the  Campaign  —  Proclamation  of  Martial  Law  — 
Gallantry  of  the  young  Lewis — Dangerous  Service  in  the  Night- 
battle  of  December  23d  —  Pleasantry  under  Difficulties  —  Rejoicings 
in  the  City  after  the  Decisive  Repulse  of  the  Enemy  —  Influence  of 
Livingston  in  Jackson's  Military  Councils  —  The  Lafittes — The 
Draughting  of  Reports,  General  Orders,  Addresses,  etc. —  Despatch 
of  Colonel  Livingston  to  the  British  Fleet  to  negotiate  an  Exchange 
of  Prisoners  —  His  Detention  and  Return  to  the  City  with  News  of 
Peace  —  Arrest  of  Judge  Hall  under  Maftial  Law — Subsequent 
Arraignment  of  General  Jackson  for  Contempt  of  Court  —  Defence 
of  the  latter  prepared  by  Livingston  —  Miniature  of  Jackson  pre 
sented  by  him  to  his  Friend  —  Project  of  a  Life  of  the  General  — 
Mutual  Attachment  established  between  him  and  Livingston 195 

CHAPTER   XL 
LEWIS  LIVINGSTON. 

Renewal  of  the  Struggle  for  Pecuniary  Independence  —  Necessity  of 
again  parting  with  Lewis  —  Return  of  the  latter  to  the  North  — 
Letters  from  Father  to  Son  —  Labors  of  the  former  —  Progress  of 
the  latter's  Education  —  His  Successful  Mission  to  Canada  to  pro 
cure  the  Remains  of  General  Montgomery  —  Scene  at  Montgomery 
Place  on  the  passing  by  of  the  Escort,  bearing  the  Hero's  Ashes  to 


xxii  CONTENTS. 

Page 
New  York  —  Return  of  Lewis  to  New  Orleans  —  Crisis  in  the  Bat- 

ture  Litigation  —  An  Adverse  Decision  —  Fortitude  of  Mr.  Living 
ston —  His  Services  in  the  Legislature  of  Louisiana  —  Uneasiness 
on  Account  of  the  State  of  Lewis's  Health  —  Voyage  of  the  latter 
to  Europe —  His  Letters  —  His  Rapid  Decline  and  Death —  Depth 
of  his  Father's  Grief 211 

CHAPTER   XII. 
THE  LIVINGSTON  CODE. 

Mr.  Livingston's  Commission  by  the  Legislature  to  prepare  a  Penal 
Code  —  His  Qualifications  and  Zeal  —  Report  of  his  Plan  —  Ap 
probation  of  the  latter  by  the  Legislature —  Completion  of  the  Code 

—  Its  Destruction  by  Fire,  and    Restoration  —  State  of  Criminal 
Laws  in  Louisiana  in   1820  —  Original  Features  of  the  Livingston 
Code  —  Proposal  to  abolish  the  Punishment  of  Death  —  Details  of 
the  Proposed  System  —  Explanatory  Reports  to  the  Legislature  — 
Neglect  of  the  latter  to  act  upon  the  Reported  Code  —  Effects  of  its 
Publication 255 

CHAPTER    XIII. 
THE  REPUTATION  OF  THE  CODE.  276 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

Six  YEARS  IN  THE  HOUSE  AGAIN. 

Election  of  Mr.  Livingston  to  Congress  —  His  Position  in  the  House 

—  Speech  on  Roads  and  Canals  —  Letters  from  Jefferson  and  Du 
Ponceau  —  Intimacy  between  the  latter  and  Livingston  —  Letters  to 
Du  Ponceau  —  Completion  of  the  Livingston  Code  —  Destruction 
of  the  Draught —  Energy  and  Fortitude  of  the  Author  —  Industry 
in  reproducing  the  Code  —  Letter  from  Webster — Speech  on  the 
Bill  to  amend  the  Judicial  System,  and  on  the  Equality  of  Rights 
among  the  States  —  Vindication  of  Chancellor  Livingston's  Services 
in  the  Purchase  of  Louisiana  —  Close  Attention  of  Mr.  Livingston 
to  the  Ordinary  Business  of  Legislation  —  Payment  of  his  Debt  to 
the  Government  —  Manners  and  Social  Habits  —  General  Jackson 
in  the  Senate  —  Growth  of  the  Intimacy  between  him  and  Living 
ston  —  A  Letter  from  the  General —  Zealous  Support  of  him  for  the 
Presidency  by  Livingston  —  Public  Dinner  and  Speech  at  Harris- 
burg  —  Defeat  of  Livingston  as  Candidate  for  Reelection  to  a  Fourth 
Term  in  the  House  of  Representatives— His  Election  to  the  Senate  282 


CONTENTS. 

Page 

CHAPTER   XV. 

SENATOR  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  Satisfaction  of  Livingston's  Ambition — His  Social  and  Domes 
tic  Habits  —  Letter  to  his  Daughter  —  Jackson's  Desire  to  employ 
him  in  the  Government — Offer  of  the  Mission  to  France  —  Pecu 
liar  Attractions  of  the  Post  for  Livingston  —  Letters  from  Lafayette 

—  Necessity  of  declining  the  Mission  — •  Appearance  in  the  Senate 

—  Speech  on  Foot's  Resolution  —  Correspondence  with  Bentham  — 
Project  for  adapting  the  Livingston  Code  to  the  Use  of  the  Federal 
Government  —  Senatorial  Independence 325 

CHAPTER   XVI. 
SECRETARY  OF  STATE. 

Montgomery  Place  —  Mr.  Livingston's  Retirement  for  the  Congres 
sional  Vacation  of  1831 —  A  Summons  to  Washington  —  Dissolu 
tion  of  the  Cabinet  —  The  Secretaryship  of  State  pressed  upon  Mr. 
Livingston  —  Letter  to  his  Wife  —  Acceptance  of  the  Office  —  His 
Views  of  the  Position  —  Letters  —  Foreign  Transactions  of  the 
Government — Personal  Characteristics  of  the  Secretary  of  State  — 
Anecdotes  —  Character  and  Influence  of  Mrs.  Livingston  —  Pro 
ceedings  in  the  Senate  on  the  Confirmation  of  the  Cabinet  —  Dig 
nified  Course  of  Mr.  Livingston  on  that  Occasion  —  Independent 
Conduct  in  Office  —  Course  on  the  President's  Bank  Policy  —  Nul 
lification —  Draught  of  the  Proclamation  of  December  10,  1832  — 
Notes  from  the  President  to  Mr.  Livingston — Amendment  of  a 
Single  Paragraph  —  The  Growth  of  Mr.  Livingston's  Reputation 
abroad  —  Election  to  the  Institute  of  France  —  The  French  Mis 
sion —  Letter  from  Lafayette  —  Marriage  of  Mr.  Livingston's 
Daughter — His  Appointment  as  Minister  to  France  —  De  Toc- 
queville 355 

CHAPTER    XVII. 
MINISTER  TO  FRANCE. 

Unsuccessful  Attempts  by  Mr.  Livingston  to  keep  a  Diary —  Extracts 

—  Appointment  to  the  French  Mission  —  Voyage  to  France —  Ob 
jects  of  the  Mission  —  Active  Exertions  of  Mr.  Livingston  —  The 
Treaty  of  July  4,    1831  — Failure  to  fulfil  it  by  the  French  Gov 
ernment  —  Efforts  of  the  King,  and  Opposition  by  the  Chamber 
of  Deputies  —  A  Draft  for  Money  drawn  by  the  Secretary  of  the 


XXIV  CONTENTS. 

Page 
Treasury  upon  the  French  Minister  of  Finance  —  Refusal  to  pay  it 

by  the  latter  —  Failure  of  the  Necessary  Appropriation  in  the  Cham 
ber  of  Deputies — Irritation  evinced  by  President  Jackson — Mes 
sage  to  Congress — Effect  of  the  Message  in  France — Offer  of 
Passports  to  Mr.  Livingston  —  His  Refusal  to  accept  them  unless 
ordered  to  leave  by  the  Government  —  Elaborate  Letter  to  the 
Comte  de  Rigny — Approval  of  his  Course  by  the  President  — 
Conditional  Appropriation  by  the  Deputies  of  the  Money  due  the 
United  States  —  Mr.  Livingston  demands  Passports  —  His  Parting 
Address  to  the  Due  de  Broglie — His  Continued  Attention  to  the 
Subject  of  Penal  Legislation  —  Increase  of  his  Reputation  as  a  Pub 
licist —  Letters  from  Villemain  and  Victor  Hugo  —  His  Efforts  to 
promulgate  his  System  —  Letter  to  the  Howard  Society  of  New 
Jersey  —  Death  of  Lafayette  —  Last  Letter  from  the  General— Jour 
ney  through  Switzerland  and  Germany —  De  Sellon's  Monument  — 
Anecdote  of  Mittermaier — Livingston's  Social  Traits  and  Temper 

—  His  Correspondence  with  Public  Men  —  Letter  to  his  Sister  — 
Farewell  to  Davezac  —  The  Homeward  Voyage  —  Popular  Recep 
tion  at  New  York— Public  Dinners,  etc.— Unanimous  Approbation 
in  America  of  Livingston's  Conduct  of  the  Mission —  Defiant  Senti 
ment  of  the  Nation  toward  France  —  Speech  of  John  Quincy  Adams 

—  The  President's  Approval  of  Livingston's  Course 386 

CHAPTER   XVIII. 
CONCLUSION. 

Retirement  of  Livingston  to  Montgomery  Place — Pursuits,  Asso 
ciations,  and  Views  —  Visit  at  Washington  —  Last  "Appearance  in 
the  Supreme  Court  —  Allusion  to  Jefferson  —  Mr.  Barton's  Return 
from  France  —  Culmination  of  the  Difficulty  between  the  two  Gov 
ernments —  Letter  of  Advice  from  Livingston  to  the  President, 
respecting  the  Message  to  Congress  on  that  Subject  —  Mediation  in 
the  Affair  by  Great  Britain  —  Settlement  of  the  Dispute—  Extract 
from  Livingston's  Last  Letter  to  his  Wife —  Return  to  Montgomery 
Place — Illness  and  Death  —  Honors  paid  to  his  Memory — The 
Author's  View  of  Livingston's  Character 423 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTO 


CHAPTER  L 

LIVINGSTON   MANOR   AND   THE   LIVINGS 

r  I  ^HE  Livingstons  of  the  State  of  New  York  have  a 
-•-  long  and  genuine  pedigree,  —  one  that  is  so  easily 
verified  and  embraces  so  many  important  individual  names, 
besides  showing  a  certain  continuity  of  strong  character 
outlasting  many  generations,  as  perhaps  to  render  perti 
nent  in  this  place  a  sketch  of  it  more  extended  than  com 
monly  befits  the  biographical  notice  of  a  prominent  man 
belonging  to  one  of  our  republican  families. 

On  the  death  of  James  I.  of  Scotland,  in  1437, 
Sir  Alexander  Livingstone,  of  Calendar,  was  appointed  by 
the  estates  of  the  kingdom  one  of  two  joint  regents 
during  the  minority  of  James  II.,  being  himself  made 
Keeper  of  the  King's  person,  while  his  associate,  Crich- 
ton,  received  the  office  of  Chancellor.  Buchanan  and 
others  relate  minutely  how  the  two  regents  quarrelled; 
how  the  Queen  -Dowager  sided  with  Livingstone;  how 
the  Chancellor  got  possession  of  the  King,  and  kept 
him  in  Edinboro'  Castle;  how  His  Majesty's  mother, 
by  a  stratagem,  delivered  him  back  to  Sir  Alexander  ; 
how  a  difference  of  opinion  between  the  latter  and  the 
royal  matron  sprung  up,  which  ended  in  his  putting  her 
in  prison  ;  how  Crichton,  by  another  strategem,  got  pos 
session  of  the  youth  a  second  time  ;  and  how  all  parties 
i 


2  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

thereupon  came  to  a  reconciliation  which  restored  the 
monarch  to  his  lawful  guardian.  The  latter  thenceforth 
experienced  several  vicissitudes  of  public  disgrace  and 
favor,  and  died  soon  after  being  appointed,  in  144*9, 
Justiciary  of  Scotland  and  Ambassador  to  England. 

Among  the  exploits  of  this  Sir  Alexander,  performed 
in  conjunction  with  his  late  enemy,  Crichton,  was  one 
of  those  treacherous  and  horrid  murders,  which  the 
gentlemen  of  his  day  sometimes  indulged  in  with  im 
punity  and  royal  approbation.  The  story  is  thus  related 
by  Burke :  — 

"Soon  after  their  reunion,  Livingstone  and  Crichton, 
dissembling  their  intentions,  asked  the  Earl  of  Douglas 
to  sup  at  the  royal  table,  in  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh  ; 
the  Earl  was  foolhardy  enough  to  accept  the  invitation, 
and  proceeded  to  his  sovereign's  presence.  At  first  he 
was  received  with  apparent  cordiality  ;  but  shortly  after 
he  had  taken  his  place  at  the  board,  the  head  of  a  black 
bull,  the  certain  omen,  in  those  days,  in  Scotland,  of  im 
mediate  death,  was  placed  upon  the  table.  The  Earl 
sprang  to  his  feet  and  attempted  to  escape ;  but  being 
speedily  seized  and  overpowered,  he  was  hurried,  along 
with  his  younger  brother,  David,  and  Sir  Malcolm 
Fleming  of  Cumbernauld,  one  of  his  chief  retainers, 
into  the  court-yard  of  the  Castle,  where  they  were 
stripped  of  their  armor,  and  all  three  in  succession  be 
headed  on  the  same  block.  The  death  of  the  young 
and  princely  Earl  of  Douglas  excited  universal  detesta 
tion,  and  his  untimely  fate  was  lamented  in  the  ballads 
of  the  time :  — 

'  Edinboro  Castle,  Toune  and  Toure, 

God  grant  thou  sink  of  Sin, 
And  that  even  for  the  black  dinoure 
Earl  Douglas  gat  therein.'  "  * 

*  Vicissitudes  of  Families,  Second  Series,  1860. 


LIVINGSTON   MANOR   AND    THE    LIVINGSTONS,      g 

The  family  of  Sir  Alexander  then  claimed  consider 
able  antiquity,  and  a  Hungarian  origin.  He  was  the 
ancestor  of  a  large  race,  which  numbered  many  active 
spirits  during  the  turbulent  centuries  which  followed. 
His  son  James  became  the  first  Lord  Livingstone.  Al 
exander,  the  fifth  lord,  through  whose  line  the  Living 
stons  of  New  York  branch  from  the  family  tree,  was 
one  of  the  two  guardians  of  Mary  Stuart,  Queen  of 
Scots.  His  appointment  to  that  office  was  in  1543;  in 
1548  he  accompanied  his  royal  ward  to  France,  and  he 
died  in  that  country  in  1,553.  His  daughter,  Mary  Liv 
ingstone,  was  one  of  the  four  Maries,  playmates  and 
maids  of  honor  to  the  queen.  Some  gossip  respecting 
the  circumstances  of  her  marriage  with  the  son  of  Lord 
Sempill  makes  one  of  the  characteristic  pages  of  John 
Knox's  lively  "  Historic  of  the  Reformation  of  Religion 
within  the  Realm  of  Scotland." 

In  1600,  Alexander,  the  seventh  Lord  Livingstone, 
was  created  first  Earl  of  Linlithgow,  a  title  which  de 
scended  to  the  fifth  earl,  who,  in  1713?  was  made  a  peer 
of  the  United  Kingdom.  Two  years  later,  the  latter 
joined  the  Earl  of  Mar  and  the  cause  of  the  first  Pre 
tender.  He  lost  his  earldom  in  consequence,  and  it  has 
not  been  restored  to  his  descendants. 

The  first  Earl  of  Linlithgow  had  four  brothers,  the 
third  of  whom  was,  in  16£5,  made  a  baron  of  Nova  Sco 
tia.  This  title  came  to  the  eleventh  and  present  baronet, 
as  he  claims  to  be,  Sir  Alexander  Livingstone,  in  1853. 
He  is  also,  as  he  alleges,  the  heir  and  representative  of 
the  attainted  Earl  of  Linlithgow,  whose  lineal  race  is 
extinct.  The  claim  of  Sir  Alexander  is,  however,  at 
present,  the  subject  of  litigation.  The  tenth  baronet  dy 
ing  childless,  his  younger  brother,  Thurstanus,  the  father 
of  Sir  Alexander,  is  the  medium  through  whom  the  lat- 


4  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

ter  claims  the  succession.  This  Thurstanus,  though  the 
brother  of  an  admiral,  had  gone  to  sea  as  a  common 
sailor,  and,  after  leading  a  life  in  all  respects  on  a  level 
with  that  vocation,  died  in  great  poverty  in  1839,  at  the 
age  of  seventy  years.* 

Three  other  titles,  with  estates,  were  conferred  upon 
enterprising  younger  sons  of  the  House  of  Livingstone  : 
the  Earldom  of  Calendar,  in  1641,  which  in  the  course 
of  descent  became  merged  in  that  of  Linlithgow ;  the 
Earldom  of  Newburgh,  in  1660,  which  is  now  extinct; 
and  the  Viscountship  of  Kilsyth,  in  1661,  which  was  for 
feited  by  the  heir  in  the  Rebellion  of  1715. 

But  to  return,  for  the  clew  which  leads  to  our  sub 
ject,  to  the  fifth  Lord  Livingstone,  guardian  of  Mary 
Stuart.  His  son,  John  Livingstone,  being  slain  at  the 
Battle  of  Pinkiefield,  in  154<7,  was  succeeded  by  a  son, 
Alexander,  the  first  of  three  generations  of  ministers  of 
the  Scottish  church.  The  latter  and  his  son  William, 
whatever  may  have  been  their  labors  or  their  virtues,  ap 
pear  to  have  made  no  such  noise  in  the  world  as  leaves 
any  posthumous  echo,  and,  but  for  the  circumstance  of 
their  having  served  as  links  between  generations  of 
more  conspicuous  men,  could  never  have  received  men 
tion  in  any  book  written  at  a  time  so  remote  from  their 
own  as  the  present.  But  the  Reverend  John  Living 
stone,  son  of  William  and  grandson  of  Alexander,  was 
a  celebrated  preacher,  was  prominent  in  Scottish  eccle 
siastical  history,  and,  in  1650,  was  one  of  the  two  com 
missioners  appointed  on  the  part  of  the  kirk  to  proceed, 
in  conjunction  with  those  commissioned  by  the  Parlia 
ment,  and  to  negotiate  with  Charles  II.  at  Breda  the 
terms  of  that  king's  admission  to  the  throne  of  Scot- 

*  These  matters  are  stated  with  much  detail  by  Sir  Bernard  Burke  in 
the  volume  just  referred  to. 


LIVINGSTON    MANOR    AND    THE    LIVINGSTONS.     5 

land.  His  birth  was  in  1603,  and  his  death  in  1672. 
The  last  nine  years  of  his  life  were  passed  at  Rotter 
dam,  whither  he  had  retired  under  a  sentence  of  ban 
ishment  for  non-conformity  at  home.  Before  his  exile, 
he  had  been  settled  successively  at  Killinshie,  at  Stran- 
rawer,  and  at  Ancram.  He  left  an  autobiography,* 
especially  interesting  to  his  religious  denomination,  and 
historically  very  curious  as  an  account  of  these  nego 
tiations  at  Breda,  from  a  spiritual  and  theological  point 
of  view. 

His    son    Robert  —  the    founder  of    the    far-spreading 
race   of   Livingstons  in  the  New  World —  was   born  at 

o 

Ancram,  in  Teviotdale,  Roxburghshire,  Scotland,  in  1654*. 
The  clerical  temper  did  not  descend  to  him.  His  spirit 
was  of  too  adventurous  a  cast  to  permit  his  taking  to 
the  calling  or  life  of  his  father,  grandfather,  and  great 
grandfather.  He  was  ambitious,  shrewd,  acquisitive, 
sturdy,  and  bold.  His  whole  career  was  a  persistent 
illustration  of  the  motto  upon  the  scroll  of  his  ances 
tors'  coat  of  arms,  —  "  Si  je  puis"  And  when,  on  the 
occasion  of  being  shipwrecked,  as  will  be  presently  men 
tioned,  he  adopted  for  his  own  shield,  together  with  a 
disabled  ship  for  a  crest,  "  Spero  Meliora"  he  ex 
pressed  well  the  most  salient  trait  of  his  character,  as 
afterwards  developed  in  the  sternest  trials.  His  father's 
exile  had  been  the  occasion  of  his  learning  the  Dutch 


*  Several    editions    of    this    work  in  the  year  1641,  being  sixty-five  years 

have  been  published,  the  latest  be-  old.     His  father  was  Mr.  Alexander 

ing   that   of   The  Wodrow  Society,  Livingstone,  minister  also  at  Monya- 

Edinburgh,  1845.    The  reverend  au-  brock,  who  was  in  near  relation  to 

thor  begins  with  the  following  state-  the  house  of  Callender ;    his   father, 

ment :    "  My  father  was   Mr.  Wil-  who  was  killed  at  Pinkiefield,  anno 

liam    Livingstone,   first    minister    at  Christi  1547,   being  ane  son  of  the 

Monyabrock,  where    he  entered    in  Lord  Livingston's,  which  house  there- 

the   year    1600,  and    thereafter  was  after  was   dignified  to  be  Earles  of 

transported  about   the   year   1614  to  Linlithgow." 
be  minister  at  Lanerk,  where  he  died 


6  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

language.  His  first  step  in  life,  on  attaining  full  age, 
was  to  plunge  into  the  wilderness  of  New  York,  along 
the  upper  Hudson.  Albany,  then  a  village  of  Dutch 
men,  became  his  residence.  He  was  very  soon  appointed 
secretary  of  the  board  of  commissioners  who  had  charge 
of  "  Albany,  Schenectady,  and  the  parts  adjacent."  This 
office  he  held  until  Albany  became  a  city,  in  1686. 
Three  years  before,  he  had  married  Alida,  widow  of 
Rev.  Nicholas  Van  Rensselaer,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Schuyler.  He  and  his  brother-in-law,  Pieter  Schuyler, 
were  formally  charged  with  the  mission  of  proceeding 
to  New  York  and  receiving  the  new  city's  charter  from 
Dongan,  Governor  of  the  colony. 

During  the  three  years  preceding  1686,  Robert  Liv 
ingston  had,  with  the  consent  of  the  colonial  govern 
ors,  effected  several  purchases  from  Indians  of  large 
tracts  of  land,  adjacent  to  each  other,  and  together  form 
ing  a  domain  commencing  about  five  miles  south  of 
the  present  city  of  Hudson,  and  having,  on  the  eastern 
shore  of  the  Hudson  River,  a  front  of  about  twelve 
miles,  extending  to  the  boundary  between  New  York 
and  Massachusetts,  upon  which  side  it  was  about  twenty 
miles  broad,  and  embracing  upwards  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  acres.  The  first  conveyance,  dated 
July  1£,  1683,  was  of  two  thousand  acres  on  Roelof 
Jansen's  Kill.  The  deed  was  executed  by  two  Indians 
and  two  squaws,  whose  names  it  is  difficult  to  write 
and  impossible  to  pronounce.  The  consideration  ex 
pressed  was  the  purchaser's  promise,  "  to  pay  to  the 
said  Owners  these  following  Goods  in  the  time  of 
five  days  to  Wit  three  hundred  guilders  in  Zewant, 
Eight  Blankets  and  two  Childs  Blankets,  five  and 
twenty  ells  of  Duffels  and  four  garments  of  Strouds, 
ten  large  shirts  and  ten  small  ditto,  Ten  pairs  of  large 


LIVINGSTON   MANOR   AND    THE   LIVINGSTONS.      7 

stockings  and  ten  pairs  of  Small  ;  Six  Guns,  fifty 
pounds  of  Powder,  Fifty  staves  of  Lead,  four  caps,  Ten 
Kettles,  Ten  Axes,  ten  adzes,  Two  pounds  of  Paint, 
Twenty  little  Scissors,  Twenty  little  looking-glasses,  one 
hundred  fish  hooks,  Awls  and  Nails  of  each  one  hundred, 
four  Rolls  of  Tobacco,  one  hundred  Pipes,  ten  Bottles, 
Three  kegs  of  Rum,  one  Barrel  of  Strong  Beer  and 
Twenty  knives,  Four  Stroud-Coats  and  Two  duffel-Coats, 
and  four  Tin  kettles."  And  the  other  conveyances  are 
of  the  same  character.* 

These  purchases  were  severally  confirmed  by  Gov 
ernor  Dongan,  and,  on  the  22d  of  July,  1686,  he  issued 
to  the  proprietor  a  patent,  erecting  the  territory  into 
the  Lordship  and  Manor  of  Livingston,  reserving  to  the 
Crown  a  yearly  rent  of  twenty-eight  shillings  sterling, 
payable  at  Albany  on  the  25th  of  March.  The  patent 
granted  to  the  proprietor  the  privilege  of  fishing,  hawk 
ing,  hunting,  and  fowling  within  the  manor,  and  the 
right  to  fish  in  the  Hudson  River  along  the  boundary; 
and  the  possession  of  all  mines  and  minerals,  excepting 
only  gold  and  silver  mines.  The  grantee  was  author 
ized  to  hold  a  court  leet  and  court  baron,  and  had  the 
advowson  and  right  of  patronage  of  the  churches  within 
the  manor.  The  patent  gave  the  tenants  the  privilege 
of  assembling  to  choose  assessors,  to  defray  the  public 
charges  of  cities,  counties,  and  towns  within  the  manor, 
according  to  the  usages  and  laws  in  force  in  the  prov 
ince  at  large.  The  grant  was  confirmed  by  royal  char 
ter  of  George  I.,  in  171  ^5  which  conferred  upon  the 

*  Documentary    History   of   New  Catskil    acknowledges    to   have    re- 

York,   quarto  edition,  vol.   iii.   page  ceived  full  satisfaction  by  a  cloth  gar- 

367.      At   the  foot  of  one   of  these  ment  and  cotton  Shift  for  her  share 

conveyances,  the   following   memo-  and  claim  to  a  certain  Flatt  of  Land 

randum  occurs  :  "  This  day,  the  i8th  Situate  in  the  Manor  of  Livingston  ; 

July  1687,  a  certain  Cripple   Indian  Which    Witness,"    etc.       Ib.    page 

Woman    named     Siakanochqui     of  369. 


8  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

tenants  the  further  privilege  of  electing  a  representative 
to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  colony,  and  two  con 
stables. 

No  doubt,  the  lord  of  the  new  manor  believed  he 
was  founding  a  house  and  perhaps  a  title  that  would 
endure ;  an  inheritance  which  would  long  cohere  and 
expand.  But  he  was  not  a  prophet ;  for  in  the  third 
generation  after  him,  the  fabric  which  he  had  devoted 
his  life  to  build  quietly  dissolved  under  the  progress  of 
advancing  ideas  and  changing  institutions.  If,  however, 
he  could  have  foreseen  the  actual  future  of  his  family, 
—  a  vigorous  race  of  great  numbers  and  various 
branches,  including  many  distinguished  and  some  illus 
trious  men,  lights  of  trade,  of  politics,  of  jurisprudence, 
of  legislation,  of  diplomacy,  of  divinity,  —  it  would  have 
been  enough  to  satisfy  a  reasonable  adventurer's  moder 
ate  expectations. 

But,  whatever  his  views  or  his  visions  may  have 
been,  he  led  a  stormy  life,  and  battled  hard  in  order  to 
accomplish  the  object  of  leaving  his  eldest  son  second 
lord  of  the  manor.  He  suffered  many  particular  disas 
ters,  but  his  life  was  a  current  of  general  good  fortune. 
He  had  several  downfalls  which,  when  they  happened, 
appeared  to  be  final ;  but  from  every  one  of  them  he 
recovered  himself  as  with  a  bound.  He  made  two  voy 
ages  to  Europe :  in  the  first,  he  was  shipwrecked  off 
the  coast  of  Portugal ;  in  the  second,  he  was  taken  by 
a  French  privateer,  and,  as  he  alleged,  "  most  barbarous 
ly  used ; "  yet  both  these  misfortunes  he  turned  to  prof 
itable  account.  He  was  more  than  once  deprived  of 
his  offices  by  the  ascendency  of  his  enemies  in  the 
colonial  government,  but  he  always  contrived  to  have 
them  restored  with  additions.  He  was  once  denounced, 
with  some  show  of  evidence,  as  a  defaulter ;  but  he 


LIVINGSTON    MANOR    AND    THE    LIVINGSTONS.      9 

cleared  his  character,  and  overcame  his  defamers  hand 
somely.  He  was  hunted  by  Governor  Leisler,  to  whose 
party  he  was  warmly  opposed,  for  treasonable  words 
against  the  King",  which  he  was  falsely  and  treacherously 
accused  of  having  uttered;  but  before  he  could  be  ar 
rested,  Leisler  was  himself  executed  for  usurpation  and 
treason.  Years  later,  the  Leislerian  faction,  having 
again  got  a  preponderance  in  the  colonial  councils,  de 
clared  his  estates  confiscated,  and  himself  suspended  from 
his  right  to  sit  at  the  council  board  ;  but  he  procured 
the  royal  reversal  of  all  this  within  a  few  months. 

From  the  income  of  his  half  dozen  offices,  from  his 
agency  of  Indian  affairs,  from  the  profits  of  various 
contracts  with  the  Government,  and  from  the  rents  of 
his  lands,  the  grantee  of  the  manor  gradually  grew  rich. 
In  169^,  he  built  a  manor-house  on  the  bank  of  the 
Hudson,  just  above  the  mouth  of  the  stream  now  called 
Livingston  Creek  ;  but  he  did  not  begin  actually  to  re 
side  there  till  1711.  In  the  latter  year  he  was  elected 
member  of  the  General  Assembly  of  New  York  for  the 
city  and  county  of  Albany.  In  that  body  he  continued 
till  17^6,  when  he  withdrew  from  public  life.  For  the 
last  ten  years  of  this  time,  he  represented  his  manor 
under  the  latest  and  royal  grant.  He  died  in  17^8,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-four. 

The  most  notable  blunder  in  Robert  Livingston's  ca 
reer  seems  to  have  been  the  patronizing  of  William  Kidd, 
by  procuring  for  him  from  the  Government  a  commis 
sion  to  sail  against  the  pirates  whose  depredations  on  the 
Atlantic  were  then  of  alarming  frequency  and  dreadful 
description.  Captain  Kidd,  as  every  one  knows,  whatever 
may  have  been  his  first  intentions,  if  story  and  song 
treat  him  fairly,  lapsed  into  a  good  many  immoralities 
on  his  own  account. 


10  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

"  My  name  was  Robert  Kid, 

When  I  sailed,  when  I  sailed." 

To  how  many  different  spots  has  tradition  pointed  as 
hiding-places  of  his  evil  and  enormous  gains !  One  of 
the  places  so  designated  was  upon  the  bank  of  the  river 
in  front  of  the  ancient  manor-house.  The  present  oc 
cupant  of  that  site,  only  a  very  few  years  since,  dis 
covered  a  band  of  superstitious  neighbors  on  the  spot 
referred  to,  digging  at  midnight,  with  appropriate  in 
cantations,  for  the  concealed  treasure. 

Robert  and  Alida  Livingston  had  five  sons  and  four 
daughters.  Two  of  the  sons  and  two  of  the  daugh 
ters  died  unmarried.  The  other  three  sons  were  Phil 
ip,  Robert,  and  Gilbert.  These  were  born  in  1686, 
1688,  and  16QO.  In  favor  of  Philip,  the  eldest,  the 
father  had  resigned  all  his  offices,  excepting  his  seat  in 
the  General  Assembly,  six  years  before  his  death.  To 
him  he  now  left  the  bulk  of  his  property,  including 
the  whole  of  the  manor,  except  about  thirteen  thou 
sand  acres  from  the  southern  part,  afterwards  known  as 
the  Manor  of  Clermont,  or  lower  manor,  which  he 
conveyed  to  Robert  in  special  consideration  of  an  im 
portant  service  which  the  latter  had  rendered,  in  the 
detection  of  a  plot  formed  by  negroes  for  a  massacre 
of  the  white  inhabitants  of  the  neighborhood.  To  the 
third  son,  Gilbert,  he  gave  an  estate  at  Saratoga. 

Philip  Livingston,  second  proprietor  of  the  manor, 
became  the  patriarch  of  a  large  family  of  his  own. 
His  sons  of  whom  most  is  known,  were  Robert, 
Philip,  and  William,  born  respectively  in  1710?  1716? 
and  17-3.  Robert  became  the  third  and  last  lord 
of  the  manor.  By  his  will  he  divided  it,  like  a 
democrat,  fairly  among  his  children,  in  spite  of  his 
eldest  son's  loud  remonstrance,  and  fervent  entreaty 


LIVINGSTON   MANOR    AND    THE   LIVINGSTONS.    \\ 

that,  for  the  sake  of  propriety,  he  might  take  the 
whole. 

The  last  proprietor  of  the  manor  died  in  1790. 
His  great-grandchildren  are  numerous  men  and  wom 
en  of  the  present  generation.  His  younger  brother, 
Philip,  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  The 
latter  was  a  merchant  of  the  city  of  New  York,  of 
such  talents  and  character  as  secured  for  him  great 
consideration  amongst  the  illustrious  men  in  the  Con 
gress  of  1776-  He  died  two  years  after  the  Decla 
ration,  and  five  years  before  the  War  of  Independence 
was  ended.  The  next  younger  brother,  William,  was 
a  very  eminent  man,  —  a  lawyer,  poet,  editor,  and 
statesman.  He  was  Governor  of  New  Jersey  from 
1776  until  his  death  in  1790.  One  of  the  sons  of 
the  latter  was  Brockholdst  Livingston,  eminent  first  at 
the  bar,  then  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  and  finally  as  one  of  the 
judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

The  second  son  of  the  first  lord  of  the  manor,  Rob 
ert,  to  whom  the  lower  manor  was  given,  was  a  man 
of  much  learning,  character,  and  influence,  and  his 
views  of  American  affairs  and  destiny  were  in  advance 
of  those  of  most,  if  not  all,  of  his  countrymen.  He 
died  in  177^?  an  ardent  and  clear-sighted  patriot.  He 
was  the  father  of  Robert  R.  Livingston,  a  judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  colony  of  New  York, 
whose  death,  also,  was  in  177^-  Judge  Livingston 
had,  among  other  children,  two  sons  whose  several  ca 
reers  threw  lustre  upon  their  family  name,  their  pro 
fession,  and  their  country.  These  were  Robert  R.  Liv 
ingston,  the  first  Chancellor  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
and  Edward  Livingston,  the  immediate  subject  of  this 
volume. 


12  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

There  are  many  descendants  of  Gilbert,  the  third  son 
of  the  grantee  of  the  manor.  The  celebrated  divine, 
John  H.  Livingston,  of  New  Jersey,  who  is  regarded 
as  one  of  the  fathers  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  church 
in  America,  and  who  died  in  1825,  was  one  of  his 
grandchildren. 

When  the  first  Robert  Livingston  returned  in  1696 
from  one  of  his  visits  to  his  native  country,  he  was 
accompanied  by  his  nephew,  another  Robert  Livingston, 
who  came  to  reside  also  at  Albany.  The  next  year, 
the  latter  married  Margaretta,  daughter  of  Pieter 
Schuyler,  and  niece  of  Alida.  The  descendants  of  this 
couple  were,  and  still  are,  numerous.  Several  of  them 
have  been  prominent  citizens  of  New  York  and  other 
States,  especially  in  the  way  of  commercial  enterprise. 

The  elder  Livingston  family,  from  the  time  of  its 
founder,  always  wielded  an  important  influence  in  the 
affairs  of  the  colony  of  New  York,  and  was  for  many 
years  one  of  the  powers  in  the  State.  During  the 
canvass  which  ended  in  the  first  election  of  Mr.  Mad 
ison  to  the  Presidency,  the  active  adherence  of  the 
Livingstons  as  a  family  was  deemed  by  that  states 
man  and  his  political  friends  essential  in  order  to  carry 
the  State  of  New  York  for  the  democratic  candidate. 
What  a  change  has  the  intervening  half-century  wrought, 
not  merely  in  the  affairs  of  this  house,  but  in  those  of 
all  like  establishments  in  this  country !  The  Living 
stons  are  now  a  multiplied  host  of  for  the  most  part 
energetic  and  successful  individuals,  and  their  aggregate 
wealth  and  influence  exceeds  the  probable  dreams  of 
their  ambitious  ancestor.  Yet  the  strength  which  comes 
of  combination  is  gone  from  them.  Our  democracy 
divides  every  clan,  minces  every  estate,  individualizes 


LIVINGSTON    MANOR    AND    THE  LIVINGSTONS.    13 

everybody,  disintegrates  everything.  Each  man  is  the 
head  of  his  own  family ;  no  man  can  be  the  head  of 
the  family  of  his  ancestors.  With  us,  the  question 
whether  or  not  the  eldest  son  shall  be  wealthy,  power 
ful,  a  patron,  depends  upon  the  eldest  son's  personal 
qualities ;  and  the  question  whether  or  not  the  younger 
son  shall  be  a  clergyman,  usually  turns  upon  his  individ 
ual  inclination.  The  law  does  not  arrange  these  matters 
for  them  before  they  are  born ;  and  if  a  Plantagenet 
would  appropriate  any  of  the  offices  or  honors  of  the 
republic,  he  must  first  vie  with  and  overcome  a  rival 
bearing  perhaps  the  newest  of  names.  But  in  all  this 
our  institutions  only  tally  with  the  general  spirit  of  this 
age.  The  most  hoary  governments  of  the  Old  World 
are  drifting  visibly  towards  democracy.  Even  among 
crowned  heads,  at  the  present  day,  an  upstart  is  apt  to 
be  influential,  if  not  respectable. 

In  the  United  States,  we  seem  to  be  outheroding 
this  tendency  of  the  times.  Our  political  leaders,  rep 
resentatives,  and  even  judges,  are  now  too  often  indi 
viduals  whom  many  an  obscure,  well-bred  person  would 
not  meet  in  the  same  drawing-room  for  all  the  world. 
We  are  certainly  making  some  progress  in  bridging 
the  gulf  which  once  generally  separated  low  manners 
from  high  positions.  Such  progress  is  one  of  the 
worst  of  our  present  evils ;  it  threatens  us  with  the 
most  palpable  of  our  future  dangers.  How  far  the 
effrontery  of  ill-bred  ignorance  and  incapacity  will  carry 
itself  towards  monopolizing  places  of  dignity,  power, 
and  trust,  is  truly  a  question  of  moment.  It  is  fright 
ful  to  contemplate  the  possibility  that  the  entire  gov 
ernment  in  all  its  branches  of  so  great  and  prosper 
ous  a  country  may,  some  day,  be  given  permanently 
over  to  unlettered  and  unmannered  statesmen.  The 


14<  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

whole  world  always  did  and  always  will  respect  a  man 
who  becomes  conspicuous  by  force  of  high  capacity 
and  virtue,  in  spite  of  humble  birth  and  imperfect  ed 
ucation  ;  but  surely  it  would  be  better  if  public  opin 
ion  should  restrain  politicians  from  aspiring  to  the 
Presidency  without  a  respectable  knowledge  of  gram 
mar  and  the  proprieties  of  life. 


CHAPTER    II. 

BIRTH   AND    MINORITY   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

Birth  of  Edward  Livingston  —  The  Period  of  his  Minority  —  His 
Father's  Family  — Judge  Robert  R.  Livingston  — Margaret  Beekman  — 
The  second  Robert  Livingston  — Judge  Livingston's  Action  before  and 
during  the  Revolution  —  His  Character  —  Character  of  Margaret  Beek 
man. 

EDWARD  LIVINGSTON  was  born  at  Clermont, 
Columbia  County,  New  York,  on  the  26th  of 
May,  1764.  His  minority,  therefore,  embraced  more 
than  the  whole  course  of  the  American  Revolution.  He 
witnessed  in  boyhood  the  cause,  the  struggle,  and  the 
result.  He  was  born  to  citizenship  in  a  perfectly  loyal 
colony  of  the  British  crown ;  before  he  was  a  man, 
that  colony  had  become  an  independent  State,  irretriev 
ably  committed  to  republican  institutions.  The  inci 
dents  of  this  swift  and  permanent  change  in  the  af 
fairs  of  his  country  were  before  his  eyes  during  every 
hour  of  his  youth,  and  all  his  family  were  devoted  to 
the  labors,  sacrifices,  and  dangers  belonging  to  such  a 
transition. 

It  was  an  extraordinary  family.  Besides  one  child 
that  died  in  its  infancy,  there  were  six  daughters  and 
four  sons,  all  of  whom  were  destined  to  reach  a  green 
old  age,  ranging  from  sixty-six  to  ninety-eight  years. 
Edward  was  the  youngest  of  all,  —  the  Benjamin 
of  the  household.  The  other  nine  were,  first,  Janet, 
born  in  17^8,  and  married  to  the  celebrated  Rich 
ard  Montgomery,  who  fell  at  Quebec  in  177^  I  second, 


16  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

Robert  R.,  the  first  Chancellor  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  born  in  IJ4<6 ;  third,  Margaret,  Mrs.  Thomas 
Tillotson  of  Rhinebeck,  born  in  17^8,  whose  husband 
was  one  of  the  early  Secretaries  of  State  of  New 
York  ;  fourth,  Henry  B.,  a  colonel  in  the  Revolutionary 
army,  born  in  17^0 ;  fifth,  Catharine,  born  in  175~5  and 
married  to  the  Reverend  Freeborn  Garretson  of  Mary 
land,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Methodist  church  in 
this  country,  whose  memory,  for  sanctity  and  zeal,  is 
held  in  high  veneration  by  that  denomination  of  Chris 
tians  ;  sixth,  John  R.,  born  in  17-55 ;  seventh,  Ger 
trude,  born  in  17-57?  wife  of  the  general,  politician, 
governor,  and  judge,  Morgan  Lewis ;  eighth,  Joanna, 
born  in  17^9,  and  married  to  Peter  R.  Livingston,  an 
eminent  politician  of  the  State  of  New  York ;  and  last, 
Alida,  born  in  1761 ,  and  married  to  another  Revolu 
tionary  officer,  General  John  Armstrong,  who,  after 
the  war,  held  important  civil  positions,  including  those 
of  Secretary  of  State  for  Pennsylvania,  Minister  of  the 
United  States  to  France  during  the  latter  part  of  Jef 
ferson's  administration,  and  Secretary  of  War  under 
Madison. 

The  father  of  these  ten  children  was  Robert  R. 
Livingston,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court 
in  the  colony  of  New  York  ;  their  mother  was  Mar 
garet,  daughter  of  Colonel  Henry  Beekman,  and  grand 
daughter,  on  her  mother's  side,  of  Robert,  nephew  of 
the  first  proprietor  of  the  Livingston  Manor,  and  Mar- 
garetta  Schuyler.  The  marriage  of  this  couple,  in 
17i2,  had  been  one  of  mutual  love.  Both  of  them 
were  only  children  of  their  respective  parents,  both 
were  to  inherit  large  landed  estates,  and  both  had  been 
bred  to  the  highest  refinement  and  best  culture  possi 
ble  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  in  their  time.  There 


HIS    MINORITY.  jy 

was  such  adaptation  in  their  characters  and  tastes  that 
the  ardor  and  even  demonstrativeness  of  their  affection 
for  each  other  grew  with  their  married  life.  The  fol 
lowing'  is  one  of  his  letters  to  her  written  in  July, 
17-55,  thirteen  years  after  their  marriage,  and  when 
she  had  borne  him  seven  children  :  — 

"  My  last  letter  was  written  in  a  melancholy  mood. 
To  you  I  am  not  used  to  disguise  my  thoughts.  In 
deed,  I  have  for  a  long  time  been  generally  sad,  ex 
cept  when  your  presence  and  idea  enliven  my  spirits. 
Think,  then,  with  how  much  pleasure  I  received  your 
favours  of  the  30th  of  June  and  3d  instant.  This  I 
did  not  do  till  last  Sunday,  and  I  have  been  happy 
ever  since. 

"  You  are  the  cordial  drop  with  which  Heaven  has 
graciously  thought  fit  to  sweeten  my  cup.  This  makes 
me  taste  of  happiness  in  the  midst  of  disappointments. 
My  imagination  paints  you  with  all  your  loveliness,  — 
with  all  the  charms  my  soul  has  for  so  many  years 
doated  on,  —  with  all  the  sweet  endearments  past  and 
those  which  I  flatter  myself  I  shall  still  experience.  I 
may  truly  say,  I  have  not  a  pleasant  thought  (abstracted 
from  those  of  an  hereafter)  with  which  your  idea  is  not 
connected;  and  even  those  of  future  happiness  give  me 
a  prospect  of  a  closer  union  with  you. 

"  I  have  not  agreed  with  the  Benthuysens  yet ;  and, 
what  is  unaccountable,  they  say  that  my  offers  are  not 
fair.  I  fear  that  I  must  go  to  law  with  them  at  last, 
but  I  shall  try  once  more  to  get  their  final  answer. 

"  I  expect  to-morrow  the  pleasure  of  the  last  letter 
from  you  while  I  am  absent.  Let  the  next  after  your 
receipt  of  this  be  to  my  father,  for  I  hope  to  be  on 
my  voyage  to  you  next  Saturday.  To-morrow,  I  in- 


18  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

tend  to  go  and  see  your  father,  to  consult  with  him. 
Your  letters  give  me  some  hope  of  Bedloe's,  which 
would  he  a  very  agreeahle  thing  indeed.  We  must 
depend  on  Providence  and  hope  for  the  best. 

"  May   the  God   of   heaven    preserve    you,  and  grant 
us  a  happy  meeting,  for  without  you  I  am  nothing. 
"  Yours  most  affectionately, 

"  ROBERT  R.  LIVINGSTON. 

"  Remember  me  to  all  the  little  ones  Providence 
has  committed  to  our  charge,  and  kiss  them  for  me. 
Wednesday  the  9th.  Began  to  write  on  Tuesday,  in 
tending  to  send  by  a  sloop,  but  it  goes  now  by  the 
mail." 

The  refined  reader  of  the  above  letter  will  not  have 
overlooked  the  natural  touch  of  filial  tenderness  which 
gleams  from  one  of  its  sentences.  The  object  of  the 
sentiment  there  so  delicately  but  clearly  indicated  was  a 
notable  man.  The  father  of  Judge  Livingston  was 
Robert,  second  son  of  the  first  proprietor  of  the  Manor 
of  Livingston,  and  the  same  who  had  earned  and  re 
ceived  the  Manor  of  Clermont,  as  was  stated  in  the  first 
chapter.  We  have  a  general  likeness  of  him  as  he 
appeared  at  the  age  of  eighty-five,  sketched  by  the  pen 
of  his  grandson  Edward.*  "  Never,"  says  this  descrip 
tion,  "  was  man  better  entitled  by  his  manners,  his  mor 
als,  and  his  education,  to  the  appellation  of  gentleman. 
His  figure  was  tall,  somewhat  bent,  but  not  emaciated, 
by  age,  which  had  marked  but  not  disfigured  a  face  once 

*  Edward  Livingston,  in  mature  but  one  chapter.     In  that  the  descrip- 

life,  conceived  a  plan  of  writing  a  tion  quoted  in  the  text  occurs.     The 

novel  in  which  the  characters  should  fragment  is  headed  with  the  couplet : 
be    drawn    faithfully   from   his    own 

memories   of    the   actual   group   of  "  Scenes  in  sad  remembrance  set ; 

which  his  grandfather  was  the  central  Scenes  never,  never  to  return." 
figure.      He  appears  to  have  written 


HIS  MINORITY.  1Q 

remarkable  for  its  regular  beauty  of  feature,  and  still 
beaming  with  the  benevolence  and  intelligence  that  had 
always  illuminated  it.  He  marked  the  epoch  at  which 
he  retired  from  the  world  by  preserving  its  costume : 
the  flowing,  well-powdered  wig,  the  bright  brown  coat, 
with  large  cuffs  and  square  skirts,  the  cut-velvet  waist 
coat,  with  ample  flaps,  and  the  breeches  scarcely  cover 
ing  the  knee,  the  silk  stockings  rolled  over  them,  with 
embroidered  clocks,  and  the  shining,  square-toed  shoes, 
fastened  near  the  ankle  with  small,  embossed  gold  buc 
kles.  These  were  retained  in  his  service,  not  to  affect  a 
singularity,  but  because  he  thought  it  ridiculous,  at  his 
time  of  life,  to  follow  the  quick  succession  of  fashion." 
He  had,  in  his  youth,  been  sent  out  to  Scotland  to  be 
educated,  and  had  remained  there  till  the  age  of  twenty- 
five.  His  attainments  are  said  to  have  been  extraordi 
nary  for  his  time.  What  remains  of  the  correspond 
ence  between  himself  and  his  son  indicates,  on  the  part 
of  both,  a  familiar  though  unpretending  acquaintance 
with  ancient  classical  literature.  He  was  a  life-long 
student,  and  it  is  related  of  him  that  at  an  advanced 
age  he  made  the  acquisition  of  a  new  language.*  His 

*  He  always  kept  a  book  in  New  York,  exhibits  the  old  gentle- 
which  he  copied,  with  his  own  hand,  man  in  the  light  of  traits  the  most 
apparently  all  his  letters,  even  those  whole-souled  and  amiable.  In  the 
addressed  to  the  members  of  his  fam-  same  letter,  which  is  a  long  one,  the 
ily  and  to  his  grandchildren.  The  octogenarian  discusses  several  matters 
latest  two  of  these  books,  bound  in  of  private  business  connected  with 
parchment,  and  containing  copies  of  the  surveying  of  lands  and  the  collec- 
the  letters  he  wrote  during  his  old  tion  of  rents,  alludes  to  political  af- 
age,  are  now  lying  beside  me.  These  fairs  in  Europe  and  America,  makes 
letters  are  principally  in  English,  a  long  quotation  in  the  original  from 
some  in  German,  a  few  to  his  grand-  Erasmus,  adds  some  religious  renec- 
daughters  in  French,  and  one  or  two,  tions  of  his  own,  and  reminds  his 
addressed  to  his  grandson  Robert  grandson  to  bring  with  him,  upon  his 
while  at  college,  in  Latin.  The  fol-  next  visit,  a  plentiful  supply  of  gun- 
lowing  beginning  of  a  letter,  which  I  powder  and  fish-hooks, 
transcribe  from  one  of  these  antique 

manuscript    folios,    written    to    the  "  Claremont,  the  29th  March  1769 

young   Robert   after   the  latter   had  "  DR  GRANDSON  ROBT 

commenced    the   practice  of  law  at  *«  I  recd  yrs  of  the  6th  March  ; 


20  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

nature  was  deeply  imbued  with  religion,  —  a  character 
istic  in  which  he  enjoyed  the  complete  sympathy  of  his 
only  son.  Several  years  before  his  death  he  made  over 
his  entire  property  to  the  latter,  in  whose  large  family 
he  passed  the  remnant  of  his  life  in  patriarchal  dignity 
and  happiness.  But  his  greatest  distinction  was  his  early 
looking  and  longing  for  the  independence  of  his  coun 
try, —  a  subject  on  which  his  views  and  sentiments  appear 
to  have  outrun  those  of  all  his  contemporaries,  even  of 
the  leading  spirits  in  the  approaching  Revolution.  They 
relate  of  him,  that,  one  day  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
year  177^,  his  son?  his  grandson  Robert,  —  the  destined 
Chancellor,  —  and  Richard  Montgomery  were  convers 
ing  with  him  in  his  room  at  Clermont,  when  he  ex 
claimed,  "  It  is  intolerable  that  a  continent  like  America 
should  be  governed  by  a  little  island,  three  thousand 
miles  away.  America  must  and  will  be  independent. 
My  son,  you  will  not  live  to  see  it ;  Montgomery,  you 
may;  Robert,"  addressing  his  grandson,  "you  will."  The 
prediction  proved  oracular ;  for  Judge  Livingston  and 
General  Montgomery  were  both  to  die  on  the  eve  of 
American  Independence,  while  to  the  young  Robert  it 
was  allotted,  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  to  serve  with 
Jefferson,  Franklin,  Sherman,  and  Adams,  as  the  com 
mittee  selected  by  Congress  to  prepare  the  immortal 
Declaration.  The  old  man's  patriotic  ardor  had  kept 
pace  with  his  foresight,  and  both  had  unquestionably 
moulded  in  a  great  degree  the  sentiments  and  views  of 

but  your  good  father  opened  it  by  bills  were  taxt,  and  then  not  ta  be 

mistake :  consequently   he  knew  you  too   hasty,  wch    would  look  necessi- 

had   apply'd  to   me,  in  pursuance  of  tous  and  griping,  wherein  he   acqui- 

my  orders,  for  a  little  money  in  case  esc'd.       I    should    immediately  have 

you  should  be  straitened,  wch  I   take  enclosed  you  a  iolb  bill,  but   he  told 

in  good  part.     Yr  daddy  was  a  little  me  you  would   receive  about  .£50  or 

out  of  humour,  alledging   you  was  a  £60    of    his   money,    whereout    you 

little  too  lavish  ;  but  1  told  him  you  could  deduct  that  amount ;  so  I  gave 

could   not  receive  cash  for  law,  till  himthe£io." 


HIS   MINORITY.  21 

the  large  circle  of  which  he  was  the  centre.  He 
died  in  177^  a^r  hearing  of  the  events  at  Lexing 
ton  ;  and  among  his  last  words  —  addressed  to  his 
daughter-in-law  —  were,  "Peggy,  what  news  from 
Boston  1  " 

Judge  Livingston,  the  father  of  Edward,  was  a  man 
worthy  to  transmit  to  his  children  the  strong  traits  of 
his  ancestors.  Religious  feeling  was  the  ruling  quality 
of  his  character.  With  this  were  hlended  a  mild  tem 
per,  an  affectionate  disposition,  inflexible  principles,  prac 
tical  energy,  and  worldly  wisdom.  I  have  before  me  a 
considerable  number  of  his  family  letters,  besides  that 
which  has  been  already  transcribed;  and  they  not  only 
all  together  show  that  he  possessed  this  combination  of 
qualities,  but  almost  every  separate  letter  exhibits  them 
all.  His  judicial  duties,  political  labors,  and  private  af 
fairs  gave  him  plenty  of  employment.  But  in  the 
midst  of  the  most  multifarious  engagements  he  wrote 
constantly  to  his  father  upon  all  subjects,  and  especially 
to  communicate  any  news  respecting  the  colonial  policy 
of  the  mother-country,  —  a  theme  which  greatly  occupied 
the  thoughts  of  both  for  many  years  before  the  Revo 
lution  broke  out.  He  was  chairman  of  the  committee 
which  was  appointed  by  the  General  Assembly  of 
New  York  with  authority  to  correspond  with  other  As 
semblies  and  their  committees  in  relation  to  the  several 
grievances  and  apprehensions  of  the  American  colonies.* 
As  such,  he  with  his  colleagues  was  admitted,  in  the 
absence  of  delegates  regularly  appointed  by  New  York, 
to  a  seat  in  the  Stamp  Act  Congress  of  1765,  afid  took 

*  This    appointment    of  a    com-  of  the  kind  taken  in  America,  though 

mittee  of  correspondence  by  the  As-  a  dispute  for  the  honor  of  that  prior- 

sembly  of  New  York  took  place   on  ity  existed  for  a  time  between   those 

the  1 8th  of  October,  1764,  and  was,  who  claimed  it  respectively  on  behalf 

by  more  than  six  years,  the  first  step  of  Massachusetts  and  of  Virginia. 


OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

an  active  part  in  its  deliberations.  And  he  was  the 
author  of  the  address  to  the  King  adopted  hy  that  body, 
praying  for  "  the  invaluable  rights  of  taxing  ourselves 
and  trials  by  our  peers."  Then,  as  at  other  times,  he 
would  write  to  his  father,  giving  details  of  what  he  was 
doing  and  thinking,  dwelling  upon  the  madness  of  Eng 
land,  criticising  the  slowness  of  the  mode  of  transacting 
business  in  Congress,  chronicling  whatever  he  observed 

O  ~  O 

of  variation  in  the  popular  feeling,  and  pleading  the 
multiplicity  of  engagements  as  his  excuse  for  not  writ 
ing  more.  One  of  these  letters,  a  long  one,  dated  the 
19th  of  October,  1765,  closes  as  follows :  Ci  See  the 
three  great  points  we  have  to  contend  for,  and  of  what 
importance  they  are  :  trials  by  juries,  a  right  to  tax  our 
selves,  the  reducing  admiralty  courts  within  their  prop 
er  limits.  If  you,  Sir,  consider  my  situation,  you  will 
excuse  my  not  writing  to  you  before.  Yesterday  I  had 
the  whole  Congress  to  dine  with  me.  In  one  place  or 
another  we  dine  together  every  day ;  so  that,  besides 
business,  this  engrosses  much  time.  I  am  now  obliged 
to  drive  my  pen  over  this  as  fast  as  I  can."  Under 
date  of  September,  17^7?  he  writes,  "  I  have  nothing 
very  agreeable.  Madness  seems  to  prevail  on  the  other 

side  ;  melancholy  and  dejection  on  this This 

country  appears  to  have  seen  its  best  days ;  but  God 
may  still  avert  the  impending  mischief  and  restore  all 
things.  Our  Governor  seems  rather  too  much  taken  up 
with  trifles.  The  grand  object  with  him  is  the  build 
ing  of  a  playhouse,  though  nothing  he  could  think  of 
will  give  greater  offence  to  the  people.  But  he  will 
have  it  guarded  by  the  army." 

Judge  Livingston's  moderation  kept  him  rather  be 
hind  both  his  aged  father  and  his  youthful  son  in  their 
views  of  Independence.  In  the  Stamp  Act  Congress 


HIS   MINORITY.  #3 

he  had  favored  the  measure  of  an  explicit  acknowl 
edgment  of  the  right  of  Great  Britain  to  regulate  the 
trade  of  the  colonies,  and  had  deprecated  in  one  of  his 
letters  the  heat  of  those  members  who  had  opposed  that 
measure.  On  the  5th  of  May,  177«5>  he  wrote  to 
Rohert  as  follows  :  — 

"  DEAR  SON  :  You,  I  suppose,  are  now  on  your  way 
to  Philadelphia,  and  will  soon  make  one  of  that  impor 
tant  body  which  will  engage  the  attention  of  all  America 
and  a  great  part  of  Europe.  May  Heaven  direct  your 
counsels  to  the  good  of  the  whole  empire.  Keep  yourself 
cool  on  this  important  occasion.  From  heat  and  passion, 
prudent  counsels  can  seldom  proceed.  It  is  yours  to  plan 
and  deliberate,  and  whatever  the  Congress  directs,  I  hope 
will  be  executed  with  firmness,  unanimity,  and  spirit. 
Every  good  man  wishes  that  America  may  remain  free. 
In  this,  I  join  heartily ;  at  the  same  time,  I  do  not  desire 
that  we  should  be  wholly  independent  of  the  mother- 
country.  How  to  reconcile  these  jarring  principles,  I 
profess,  I  am  altogether  at  a  loss.  The  benefit  we  re 
ceive  of  protection  seems  to  require  that  we  should  con 
tribute  to  the  support  of  the  navy,  if  not  to  the  armies  of 
Britain.  I  would  have  you  consider  whether  it  would  not 
be  proper  to  lay  hold  of  Lord  North's  overture,  to  open 
a  negotiation  and  procure  a  suspension  of  hostilities.  In 
the  mean  time,  the  check  General  Gage  has  received,  and 
our  non-importation,  will  perhaps  have  a  good  effect  in 
our  favor  on  the  other  side  of  the  water.  This  seems 
to  be  the  thought  of  our  council  here,  as  Mr.  Jay  and 
Mr.  Livingston  will  inform  you.  I  should  think,  if  you 
offered  Britain  all  the  duties  usually  paid  here  by  our 
merchants,  even  those  paid  since  the  disturbances  began, 
those  on  tea  excepted,  which  seem  to  be  too  odious, 


24  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

and  all  other  duties  they  may  think  convenient  to  levy 
for  the  regulation  of  trade,  shall  be  lodged  in  the  treasury 
of  each  colony,  to  be  disposed  of  by  their  respective  as 
semblies  and  legislatures,  on  an  engagement  on  their 
side  that  no  other  taxes  shall  be  imposed  on  them  but 
by  their  own  representatives,  we  ought  to  be  contented. 
Some  specious  offer  should  be  made,  to  increase  our 
friends  in  England.  This,  or  some  other  of  that  kind, 
if  Lord  North  meant  anything  by  his  motion,  but  to 
deceive  the  people  of  England,  ought  to  put  a  stop  to 
his  proceedings  for  the  present;  otherwise  the  odium  he 
lies  under  must  increase.  The  Boston  Charter  ought 
by  all  means  to  be  restored,  and  were  the  tea  paid  for, 
as  a  douceur,  by  the  whole  continent,  it  would  be  no 
matter.  But  this  you  will  not  insist  on  except  you  are 
well  supported.  These  are  my  present  thoughts  ;  how 
ever,  judge  for  yourself,  and  unite  by  all  means,  for  on 
this  all  depends.  As  to  what  relates  to  war,  after  agree 
ing  on  quotas,  the  manner  of  levying  men  and  money 
will,  I  suppose,  be  left  to  each  colony.  May  God  direct 
you  in  all  things.  A  dependence  on  him  will  inspire 
both  wisdom  and  courage ;  and  if  his  Providence  in 
terfere  in  anything,  as  I  firmly  believe  it  does  in  all 
things,  it  certainly  does  in  the  rise  and  fall  of  nations. 
"  Your  most  affectionate  father, 

"  R.  R.  LIVINGSTON. 

"  Inquire  whether  I  can  have  a  quantity  of  saltpetre. 
I  hear  there  is  a  large  quantity  imported  at  Philadel 
phia." 

The  saltpetre  in  this  postscript  sought  after  was  for 
use  in  a  powder-mill,  which  the  writer  was  then  erect 
ing,  and  in  which  his  son,  John  R.,  manufactured  gun 
powder  during  the  Revolutionary  War.  The  following 


HIS   MINORITY.  g£ 

letter  to  Robert,  dated  June  19,  177^?  shows  the  prog 
ress  of  Judge  Livingston's  views,  and  of  his  powder- 
mill  :  - 

"  I  conclude,  from  the  King's  answer  to  the  Lord 
Mayor,  that  if  American  liberty  is  maintained,  it  must 
be  by  the  greatest  exertion  of  our  force,  under  the 
favor  and  direction  of  Providence.  In  this  situation  I 
am  under  no  apprehension  but  from  the  enemies  we 
have  amongst  ourselves.  A  hearty  and  united  opposi 
tion  would  render  us  to  all  appearance  invincible.  In 
this  part  of  the  country  we  have  many  opposers,  but 
still  the  Whig  interest  appears  to  be  growing.  Com 
mittees  either  have  been  or  will  be  chosen  in  every  part 
of  Dutchess  ;  but  I  believe  there  will  be  many  who  will 
not  sign  the  association,  and  great  opposition  is  made  to 
the  choosing  of  a  committee  in  Rhinebeck.  Cousin 
Robert  found  the  manor  people  under  arms  last  Tuesday. 
About  two  thirds  signed  the  association  ;  the  rest  are  to 
consider  it  a  fortnight,  but  many  oppose  warmly.  The 
Whigs  are  predominant,  at  least  in  Tryon,  and  if  I  can 
depend  upon  the  information  I  have  received,  have  sent 
deputies  to  the  P.  Congress.  I  hear  the  adjourning  of 
your  Congress  to  Hartford  or  Albany  has  been  men 
tioned.  As  the  object  of  most  consequence  is  union,  the 
greater  attention  should  be  paid  to  the  three  counties, 
Albany,  Charlotte,  and  Tryon.  It  seems  to  be  absolutely 
necessary  that  they  should  be  in  a  state  of  defence.  In 
this  purpose,  nothing  could  be  more  effectual  than  the 
Congress  sitting  in  Albany.  This  would  oblige  all  the 
Tories,  as  they  are  called,  to  join,  to  say  nothing  of  its 
being  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  nearer  the  seat  of 
action.  My  powder-mill  will  be  set  agoing,  I  hope,  the 
beginning  of  next  week. 

4 


26  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

"  Mr.  F 's*  conduct  appears  unaccountable  to  me. 

Does  he  or  does  he  not  approve  of  vigorous  measures  I 
I  still  expect  much  good  from  his  counsels.  I  see,  by 
the  genuine  speech  of  Lord  North,  that  he  disdains 

treating I  am  convinced  they  don't  know  America 

yet.  I  don't  wonder  at  it ;  we  are  hardly  yet  ourselves 
apprised  of  the  power  we  are  able  to  exert,  and  that 
makes  many  afraid  to  join  in  the  cause." 

The  association  here  spoken  of  was  one,  the  requisi 
tion  for  which  expressly  excepted  crown  officers.  "  But 
he  scorned  to  avail  himself  of  that  exception,"  his  son, 
the  Chancellor,  afterwards  declared,  fi  and  went  volunta 
rily  and  signed,  being  the  first  and,  I  believe,  the  only 
person  holding  a  lucrative  office  in  the  government  who 
associated." 

Judge  Livingston's  judicial  independence,  and  coura 
geous  devotion  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  were  put  to  still 
sharper  tests.  He  broke  up  a  practice  which  he  found 
existing  in  the  court,  of  granting  general  warrants  to 
custom-house  officers  to  search  for  contraband  goods, — a 
practice  which  the  provincial  government  is  said  to  have 
had  much  at  heart,  and  which  had  been  sanctioned  by 
the  courts  in  several  of  the  colonies.  And  in  1765, 
when  Lieutenant-Governor  Golden  ordered  the  judges  to 
send  up  their  proceedings  in  a  cause,  —  that  of  Force 
versus  Cunningham,  —  after  a  trial  and  verdict,  in  order 
to  their  being  reviewed  by  the  Governor  and  Council,  he 
perceived  at  once  the  abyss  to  which  the  judicial  power 
would  be  consigned  by  a  compliance  with  the  order ;  and 
he,  with  his  brethren,  flatly  refused  to  comply,  assigning 
their  reasons,  which  they  published,  as  a  warning  to  the 
people  of  their  danger.  They  were  afterwards  served 
with  a  peremptory  order  of  the  King,  commanding  them 

*  Franklin's  ? 


HIS   MINORITY. 


27 


to  send  up  the  proceedings  ;  but  they  absolutely  declined, 
of  course  at  the  hazard  of  losing  their  commissions. 
This  subject  is  mentioned  in  one  of  the  Judge's  letters 
to  his  father.  "  The  King  and  Council,"  he  wrote,  "  have 
determined  the  matter  of  appeal  against  us,  contrary  to 
the  highest  assurances  that  we  had  from  all  hands,  that 
we  should  be  successful  in  opposing  it.  We  have,  in 
consequence,  been  served  with  the  order  of  the  King  and 
Council,  and  another  writ  to  send  up  the  proceedings  ;  but 
we  remain  firm  to  our  principles  and  will  not  obey.  We 
have  reason  to  think  that  the  order  has  been  surrepti 
tiously  obtained.  It  does  not  appear  that  our  agent  knew 
that  the  affair  was  pending  in  council,  for  at  the  very 
time  he  was  assured  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  that  the  instructions  to  Sir  Harry  More  would 
be  so  altered  as  to  put  an  end  to  that  controversy." 

From  these  samples  of  his  correspondence  it  is  plain 
enough  that  the  father  of  Edward  Livingston  was  one 
of  those  strong  men  who,  in  the  conduct  of  life,  have  a 
double  reliance,  —  upon  Providence,  and  upon  themselves. 
These  extracts  reveal,  too,  something  of  his  humility,  his 
affectionateness,  his  gentleness,  and  his  serenity.  With 
regard  to  his  possession  of  these  milder  qualities  there  is 
much  external  evidence.  His  wife,  after  many  years  of 
widowhood,  made  a  record  of  her  testimony  concerning 
him,  in  which,  after  dwelling  upon  his  public  acts  and 
character,  she  attributes  to  him  "an  unequalled  sweetness 
of  disposition,"  and  "  a  piety  that  guided  every  action 
of  his  life."  One  of  his  most  intimate  friends,  William 
Smith,  the  historian,  was  accustomed  to  say,  "  If  I  were 
to  be  placed  on  a  desert  island,  with  but  one  book  and 
one  friend,  that  book  should  be  the  Bible,  and  that  friend 
Robert  R.  Livingston." 


28  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

Margaret  Beekman  —  for  her  maiden  name  continues 
to  this  day  to  be,  in  family  history,  her  distinctive  appella 
tion  —  was  a  woman  of  a  large  and  heroic  mould.  I 
presume  that  no  woman  not  worthy  to  be  thus  character 
ized  ever  reared  such  a  family  as  hers.  Of  a  plain  and 
vigorous  understanding,  a  genial  heart,  a  cheerful  temper, 
and  a  religious  spirit  unclouded  by  austerity,  and  well 
imbued  with  the  political  principles  of  her  husband  and 
father-in-law,  she  divided  the  most  energetic  devotion 
between  her  country,  her  family,  and  her  affairs.  Facts 
hereafter  to  be  narrated  will  present  her  in  a  fuller  and 
clearer  light  than  any  descriptive  words.  Surviving  her 
husband  almost  a  quarter  of  a  century,  bearing  a  brave 
part  in  the  perils  and  sufferings  of  the  time,  and  living  to 
see  the  fulness  of  her  eldest  son's  fame,  as  well  as  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  greatness  of  her  youngest,  she  is,  for  a  con 
siderable  period,  a  part  of  our  subject. 


CHAPTER    III. 

EDUCATION   AND    EARLY    ASSOCIATIONS. 

Departure  of  General  Montgomery  for  Canada  —  School  at  Esopus  — 
First  Constitution  of  New  York — Robert  R.  Livingston  —  Burning  of 
Esopus  by  the  British  —  Destruction  of  the  Family  Mansion  at  Clermont  — 
Princeton  College  —  Dr.  Witherspoon  —  Study  of  Law  —  Cultivation  of 
Philosophy  and  Poetry  —  Lafayette  —  The  Family  at  Clermont. 

TT^DWARD  LIVINGSTON  enjoyed,  in  one  respect,  a 
••— '  favorable  opportunity  for  becoming"  a  spoiled  child. 
All  the  idolatry  which  his  family  had  for  any  member  was 
yielded  to  him  from  the  first,  as  it  was  retained  by  him  to 
the  last.  Yet  the  species  of  tyranny  which  that  kind  of 
worship  engenders  in  common  natures  did  not  find  any 
lodgment  in  his.  His  brothers  and  sisters  have  all  borne 
testimony  to  that  perennial  sweetness  of  temper  in  the 
child  and  youth,  which,  in  the  man,  was  something  more 
than  philosophic,  something  more  than  simply  Christian. 
Once,  and  but  once,  they  said,  when  he  was  about  eight 
years  old,  he  was  charged  with  violent  conduct.  The  ac 
cusation  was  brought  by  one  of  the  sisters  to  the  mother. 
"  Then  go  in  the  corner,"  said  Margaret  Beekman.  "  I 
ani  sure  you  have  been  very  naughty,  or  Edward  would 
not  have  done  so." 

The  home  at  Clermont  was  rural  and  secluded,  —  a 
plain  large  mansion  overlooking  the  Hudson  from  the 
forests  and  farming  lands  of  the  lower  manor,  with 
rooms  for  many  guests,  as  well  as  for  the  large  number 
of  regular  inmates. 

Judge  Livingston  had  also  a  town-house  in  New  York, 


30  LIFE   OF  EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

where  the  family  resided  in  winter.  The  journey  between 
the  two  establishments  was  usually  performed  on  board  a 
sloop,  and  was  an  affair  of  days  instead  of  hours. 

The  greater  part  of  what  is  now  the  State  of  New 
York  was  then  a  wilderness,  the  settlements  being*  mainly 
confined  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  Hudson  and  Mohawk 
rivers. 

Slavery  was  one  of  the  institutions  of  the  whole  land, 
and  a  large  number  of  negro  slaves  formed  a  necessary 
part  of  every  household  like  that  of  Judge  Living 
ston. 

Edward  was  kept  at  home  till  after  his  father's  death, 
which  happened  in  December,  177^5  when  he  was  in  his 
twelfth  year.  Like  all  his  brothers  and  sisters,  he  was 
of  a  sound  and  healthy  constitution,  and  possessed  from 
the  first  his  full  share  of  that  marked  vitality  which  seemed 
to  destine  them  all  for  long  life.  What  training  and 
influences  shaped  the  growth  of  his  mind  during  this  ten 
der  period  will  be  apparent  enough  from  a  glance  at  the 
characters  of  the  persons  and  at  the  circumstances  already 
mentioned,  especially  when  it  is  added  that  even  his  sisters 
were  all  politicians  as  ardent  as  intelligent.  When  he  was 
but  a  year  old,  his  brother  Robert  had,  on  the  occasion  of 
being  graduated  at  King's*  College,  delivered  a  stir 
ring  oration  in  praise  of  Liberty,")*  in  which  he  had  given 
significant  expression  to  the  even  then  settled  every-day 
sentiment  of  the  entire  family  and  its  circle.  And  when 
the  Revolution  broke  out,  Robert  was  among  its  delibera- 

*  Now  Columbia.  the  graceful  propriety  of  his  pronun- 

t  "  In    particular,    Mr.    Living-  ciation   and  gesture ;   and    many  of 

ston,  whose  oration  in  praise  of  Lib-  the  audience  pleased  themselves  with 

erty  was  received  with  general  and  the  hopes  that  the  young  orator  may 

extraordinary    approbation,  and    did  prove  an  able  and /ealous  asserter  and 

great  honor  to  his  judgment  and  abil-  defender  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of 

ities  in  the  choice  of  his  subject,  the  his  country,  as  well  as  an  ornament 

justice   and  sublimity  cf  his  senti-  to  it." — New  York  Gazette  of  May 

ments,  the  elegance  of  his  style,  and  30,   1765. 


EDUCATION    AND    EARLY    ASSOCIATIONS.         SI 

tive  leaders,  while  Harry  was  an  officer  in  the  field.  In 
these  surroundings  there  was  everything  to  produce  an 
early  awakening  of  the  faculties,  the  sentiments,  and  the 
imagination  of  the  hoy. 

His  first  teacher  was  a  clergyman  of  the  Dutch  Re 
formed  church  and  of  Dutch  ancestry,  known  as  Domi 
nie  Doll.  This  gentleman  was  a  widower,  and  had  then 
an  only  child,  a  young  lady  of  a  frank  and  sprightly  na 
ture.  With  the  daughter,*  he  lived  for  a  time  on  the 
most  friendly  footing  in  the  family  of  Judge  Livingston, 
as  tutor  of  the  younger  children. 

Edward  was  nine  years  of  age  when  his  eldest  sister, 
Janet,  was  married  to  Richard  Montgomery.  This 
couple  had  once  met,  some  years  before,  when  he  — 
then  a  Captain  in  the  British  army  —  was  on  his  way 
to  a  distant  western  post.  The  meeting  had  left  its  im 
pression  upon  both ;  and  after  considerable  distinguished 
service,  he  had  returned  to  England,  disposed  of  his 
commission,  and  emigrated  to  New  York.  The  marriage 
soon  followed ;  and  visions  of  long  years  of  tranquil  hap 
piness  upon  a  farm  at  Rhinebeck  were  entertained  by 
the  pair.  But  their  projected  house  was  unfinished  when, 
attracted  by  his  military  reputation,  the  authorities  of 
the  United  Colonies  called  upon  him  to  serve  as  one  of 
eight  brigadier -generals  in  their  new  army.  He  ac 
cepted  reluctantly  and  sadly,  declaring  that  "  the  will  of 
an  oppressed  people,  compelled  to  choose  between  liberty 
and  slavery,  must  be  obeyed."  He  met  with  no  op 
position  from  his  wife.  She  accompanied  him  on  the 

*    Robert,    the     oldest    son,    on  future  Chancellor ;  and  it  happened 

leaving    home  one  day  for  Albany,  that  he  actually  brought  back  as  a 

inquired  of  Miss  Doll,  in  his  char-  guest  a  gentleman  who  in  due  time 

acteristically  gallant  manner,  "  Well,  married  the  Dominie's  daughter,  and 

what  shall   I   bring  home  for  you  ?"  with  whom  she   led   a  happy  lite  at 

"  A  good  husband  !  "  was  the  lively  Kinderhook. 
response.      "  Agreed,"    replied    the 


3%  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

way  to  his  final  campaign  as  far  as  Saratoga,  where  she 
received  from  his  lips  the  last  comforting  assurance, 
"  You  shall  never  have  cause  to  hlush  for  your  Mont 
gomery." 

The  parting  of  Janet  Montgomery  and  her  "soldier," 
as  she  always  afterwards  called  him,  and  the  preparations 
for  the  parting,  were  so  melancholy  as  to  leave  a  lasting 
impression  upon  the  friends  of  both.  Edward,  in  his  old 
age,  thus  described  a  scene  connected  with  those  prep 
arations,  which  had  held  a  permanent  place  in  his  mem 
ory.  "  It  was  just  before  General  Montgomery  left  for 
Canada.  We  were  only  three  in  her  room :  he,  my 
sister,  and  myself.  He  was  sitting  in  a  musing  attitude, 
between  his  wife,  who,  sad  and  silent,  seemed  to  be  read 
ing  the  future,  and  myself,  whose  childish  admiration 
was  divided  between  the  glittering  uniform  and  the 
martial  bearing  of  him  who  wore  it,  when,  all  of  a  sud 
den,  the  silence  was  broken  by  Montgomery's  deep  voice, 
repeating  the  following  line,  as  one  who  speaks  in  a 
dream,  — 

'  "  'Tis  a  mad  world,  my  masters," 

I  once  thought  so,  now  I  know  it.'  The  tone,  the  words, 
the  circumstances,  all  overawed  me,  and  I  noiselessly  re 
tired.  I  have  since  reflected  upon  the  bearing  of  this 
quotation,  forcing  itself  as  it  were  upon  the  young  sol 
dier  at  that  moment.  Perhaps  he  might  have  been  con 
trasting  the  quiet  and  sweets  of  the  life  he  held  in  his 
grasp,  with  the  tumults  and  perils  of  the  camp  which 
he  had  resolved  to  seek  without  a  glance  at  what  he 
was  leaving  behind.  These  were  the  last  words  I  heard 
from  his  lips,  and  I  never  saw  him  more." 

The  elder  brother,  Harry  Livingston,  accompanied 
Montgomery  to  Canada,  whence  he  was  destined  to  re- 


EDUCATION   AND    EARLY   ASSOCIATIONS.          S3 

turn  in  safety,  though  his  youthful  impetuosity  was  such 
that  the  General  suffered  many  fears  on  his  account,  and 
sometimes  heartily  wished  him  home. 

Having  thus  lost,  within  a  few  months  of  each  other, 
his  father,  his  grandfather,  and  his  celebrated  brother-in- 
law,  Edward  was  shortly  placed  at  school  in  Albany, 
but  very  soon  was  transferred  to  Esopus,  —  now  King 
ston,  —  in  the  county  of  Ulster,  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
Hudson,  eighteen  miles  from  home,  under  the  tutelar 
charge  of  his  old  friend,  Dominie  Doll,  who  had  estab 
lished  a  school  at  that  place.  Here  he  at  once  had  to 
learn  several  lessons  besides  those  set  down  in  the  good 
teacher's  curriculum.  In  the  first  place,  he  was  obliged 
to  forego  the  comparative  luxury  of  the  family-table,  —  a 
discipline  from  which  he  dated  the  facility  with  which,  in 
after-life,  he  accommodated  himself,  whenever  it  was 
necessary,  to  the  rudest  fare.  His  friends  were  many 
times  amused  by  his  description  of  his  first  dinner  at 
the  Esopus  farm-house  where  he  had  been  placed  to 
board.  Potatoes  and  a  piece  of  pork  composed  the 
whole  bill  of  fare.  The  knife  was  put  in  the  solitary 
dish,  and  the  schoolboy  invited  to  have  his  share,  "  I 
don't  like  pork  ;  we  never  eat  it  at  home,"  was  the  re 
sponse.  "  Very  well,  my  little  man,"  replied  the  host, 
"  nobody  obliges  you  to  eat  it."  A  potato,  sadly  accept 
ed,  furnished  the  scanty  repast.  The  second  day  brought 
no  variety.  There,  again,  was  the  distasteful  pork, 
against  which  the  protest  was  somewhat  weakened  by  a 
ravenous  appetite.  The  third  day  fastidiousness  suc 
cumbed  to  hunger;  and  a  course  of  pork  and  potatoes, 
varied  by  nothing  more  refined,  was  entered  upon,  and 
endured  through  the  school  term. 

No  boy,  I  suppose,  ever  gets  through  his  school-life 
without  taking  part,  offensively  or  defensively,  in  a  greater 


OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

or  lesser  number  of  those  conflicts  which  are  miniatures 
of  the  controversies  of  men.  The  first,  if  not  the  only 
one  of  these  hattles  in  which  Edward  engaged  was 
fought  soon  after  his  appearance  at  Esopus.  The  occa 
sion  was  the  moral  necessity  of  backing  up  a  statement 
which  he  casually  made  among  his  fellows,  to  the  effect 
that  at  Clermont  they  had  an  ice-house  in  which  ice  was 
preserved  for  family  use  through  the  summer,  —  a  state 
ment  which  one  of  the  boys,  because  he  had  never  heard 
of  such  a  thing  before,  honestly  but  indiscreetly  pro 
nounced  to  be  —  a  lie. 

Every  Saturday  he  walked  the  eighteen  miles  to  Cler 
mont,  and  returned  in  the  same  manner  every  Monday. 
Of  these  weekly  journeys  he  retained  vivid  and  pleas 
ing  recollections  to  the  end  of  his  life,  attributing  to 
them  the  habit  and  love  of  walking  which  he  ever  after 
retained,  and  to  which  he,  in  a  great  measure,  owed,  as 
he  believed,  the  health  he  preserved  through  that  long 
course  of  intense  and  continuous  mental  labors  which 
we  are  here  beginning  to  trace.  In  these  facts  we  can 
read  a  volume  upon  the  character  of  the  good  and 
strong  Margaret  Beekman,  who  evidently  had  deter 
mined  that  her  youngest  and  favorite  child  should  not 
suffer  too  much  from  the  want  of  a  father's  masculine 
guidance.  No  wonder  that  she  could  afterwards  point 
proudly  to  that  child  in  playful  but  triumphant  refuta 
tion  of  the  doctrine  that  women  are  not  competent  to 
educate  sons. 

Esopus  then  had  a  population  of  about  thirty-five 
hundred,  and  ranked  as  the  third  town  in  the  colony. 
There  the  first  "Convention  of  the  Representatives  of 
the  State  of  New  York"  -having  been  elected  to 
meet  in  the  city  of  New  York  on  the  8th  of  July, 
1776,  and  having,  in  order  to  avoid  the  neighborhood 


EDUCATION    AND    EARLY   ASSOCIATIONS.        35 

of  Lord  Howe  and  his  forces,  held  adjourned  sessions 
at  White  Plains,  Haarlem,  Philipse's  Manor,  and  Fishkill 
—  sought  refuge  for  its  deliberations  in  February,  1777- 
And  there,  on  the  £0th  of  April,  the  first  constitution 
of  the  State  was  adopted  in  the  convention. 

Robert  R.  Livingston,  seventeen  years  older  than 
his  brother  Edward,  but  still  under  thirty,  was  a  con 
spicuous  member  of  this  body.  That,  together  with  his 
employment  by  Congress  as  one  of  a  secret  "  Commit 
tee  for  facilitating  the  Military  Operations  on  Hudson's 
River,"  —  in  which  capacity  he  was  a  constant,  free- 
spoken,  and  welcome  adviser  of  Washington, — prevented 
his  signature  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  though 
he  had  labored  with  Jefferson's  committee  in  revising 
the  draught  of  that  instrument.  He  performed  a  similar 
work  in  the  New  York  convention  ;  and  the  new  con 
stitution,  though  adopted  after  deliberate  and  patient  dis 
cussion,  was  at  last  hurriedly  printed  and  proclaimed. 
The  printing  was  done  at  the  ancient  village  of  Fish- 
kill  ;  the  proclamation  was  made  in  front  of  the  Esopus 
court-house,  the  secretary  of  the  convention  standing 
upon  a  barrel,  surrounded  by  the  people  while  he  read 
the  paper.  Such  scenes,  with  all  their  concomitant  ex 
citements  and  lessons,  divided  witfr  his  books  and  school 
the  daily  attention  of  the  young  Edward. 

Thus  Esopus  became  the  first  and  temporary  capital 
of  the  struggling,  infant  State.  The  first  governor  and 
legislature  chosen  under  the  constitution  met  there  in 
September.  Their  accommodations  were  not  luxurious, 
nor  were  their  duties  of  an  easy  sort.  There  was  no 
greedy  and  corrupt  lobby  to  beset  their  official  virtue; 
but  they  were  encompassed  by  rough  and  primitive  dan 
gers,  and  pursued  their  deliberations 

"  on  the  perilous  edge 
Of  battel." 


36  LIFE    OF  EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

Burgoyne  was  at  the  north,  and  Sir  Henry  Clinton  at 
the  south,  planning  a  conjunction,  and  a  military  posses 
sion  of  the  whole  line  of  the  Hudson,  with  a  view  of 
cutting  off  communication  between  New  England  and 
the  rest  of  the  country.  In  the  attempted  execution  of 
this  scheme,  Clinton,  in  conjunction  with  Admiral  Howe 
and  Commodore  Hotham,  despatched  Sir  James  Wallace 
up  the  river  with  a  flying  squadron  conveying  about  four 
thousand  men,  commanded  by  General  Vaughan.  Be 
yond  the  capture  of  forts  Montgomery  and  Clinton, — 
the  former  commanded  by  the  new  Governor  in  person, 
the  latter  by  his  brother,  —  and  the  destruction  of  the  die- 
vaux-de-frise,  boom,  and  chain  which  had  been  stretched 
across  the  river  at  that  point,  the  result  was  noth 
ing  but  a  good  deal  of  safe  and  cautious  marauding. 
Boats,  vessels,  and  mills  were  destroyed  ;  villages  burned, 
houses  fired  upon,  and  neighborhoods  incapable  of  resist 
ance  pillaged.  The  Governor  and  legislature  were  dis 
lodged  from  Esopus  with  the  people  of  that  village,  and 
the  enemy  thereupon  plied  the  torch  with  such  industry 
that  only  a  few  houses  were  left  standing ;  but  the 
Governor,  legislature,  and  people  took  refuge  at  Hurley, 
—  a  small  village  four  miles  distant,  where  the  excitement 
of  the  day  of  flight  was  varied  by  the  hanging  of  a 
British  spy,  named  Taylor,  within  view  of  the  conflagra 
tion  of  Esopus. 

The  effect  of  this  expedition  was  to  rouse  and  exas 
perate  the  whole  Whig  population  to  the  point  of  im 
placability.  Vaughan  returned  to  New  York  in  safety. 
Burgoyne,  not  so  fortunate,  surrendered  his  sword  to 
General  Gates,  in  the  presence  of  their  two  armies,  at 
Saratoga,  on  the  17th  of  October,  only  one  day  later 
than  the  sack  of  Esopus. 

The    school    of  Dominie    Doll  was    of  course    driven 


EDUCATION    AND    EARLY   ASSOCIATIONS.         37 

away  vvitli  the  Esopians,  but,  sharing  the  fortunes  of  the 
new  government,  continued  its  existence  for  a  time  at 
Hurley.  Young  Livingston  had,  in  these  events,  occa 
sion  for  an  eccentric  visit  to  Clermont.  The  house  of 
his  mother,  in  which  he  had  been  born,  and  in  which  his 
father  and  grandfather  had  lately  expired,  as  well  as 
that  of  his  brother  Robert,  was  among  those  marked  for 
destruction  by  Vaughan's  men  on  this  expedition.  At 
the  very  time,  two  British  officers,  a  wounded  captain, 
named  Montgomery,  and  his  surgeon,  had  been  for 
some  time  hospitably  entertained  by  Margaret  Beekman  at 
Clermont.  They  gratefully  proposed  to  extend  to  the 
house  the  protection  of  their  presence  and  influence. 
But  the  offer  was  politely  yet  firmly  declined,  on  the 
ground  that  the  widowed  proprietor  did  not  desire  any 
such  advantage  over  her  neighbors  and  countrymen. 
The  sturdy  matron  determined  to  evacuate  Clermont, 
carrying  off  what  needful  articles  she  might.  A  part 
of  her  furniture  was  buried,  the  remainder  loaded  in 
wagons ;  and  when  warned  that  the  enemy  was  ap 
proaching  and  not  many  miles  distant,  she  set  forth  on  a 
weary  journey  eastward,  accompanied  by  all  her  family 
and  retinue  of  servants.  The  timeliness  of  this  depar 
ture  was  proved  by  a  column  of  smoke  which  the  party, 
after  advancing  a  few  miles,  plainly  saw  rising  from  the 
flames  of  the  mansion  they  had  left.  This  scene  was 
destined  to  recur  to  the  memory  of  Edward,  the  young 
est  of  the  company,  and  to  point  an  eloquent  passage  in 
a  speech  to  be  delivered  by  him  twenty  years  later  on 
the  floor  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States.  If  the  reader  would  have  further  illustration  of 
the  robustness  of  Margaret  Beekmari's  nature,  let  him 
picture  to  himself — what  actually  occurred  —  that  high 
bred  dame,  at  the  very  moment  of  starting  upon  this 


38  LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

journey,  enjoying  a  hearty  laugh  at  the  figure  made  by  a 
favorite  servant,  a  fat  old  negro  woman,  perched  in  sol 
emn  anxiety  at  the  top  of  one  of  the  wagon-loads. 

The  destination  of  the  party  was  Salisbury,  in  Berk 
shire,  just  beyond  the  border  of  Massachusetts,  where 
they  secured  refuge  in  a  house  which  it  is  said  is  still 
standing,  and  where  they  remained  but  a  short  time,  the 
hasty  retreat  of  Vaughan's  command  rendering  Clermont 
a  safe  residence  again.  Mrs.  Livingston,  with  her  fam 
ily,  then  returned  to  her  home,  and  at  once  began  the 
work  of  repairing  its  desolation. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  all  this  tumult  and  danger 
that  Edward  Livingston  snatched  the  learning  which 
fitted  him  for  college.  He  was  entered  a  junior,  at 
Nassau  Hall,  Princeton,  in  1779-  The  business  of  the 
institution  was  in  that  year  resumed,  after  several  years' 
suspension,  in  the  course  of  which  a  detachment  of  the 
army  of  Cornwallis  had  been  quartered  for  a  time  in  the 
college  buildings,  from  which  Washington  had  dislodged 
them  on  the  morning  after  the  Battle  of  Trenton. 

The  President,  Dr.  Witherspoon,  was  an  extraordi 
nary  man.  His  acquirements  were  large,  his  observation 
keen,  his  humor  rich,  his  understanding  vigorous,  and 
his  spirit  bold.  He  combined  the  qualities  of  a  learned 
divine,  an  eloquent  preacher,  a  prolific  writer,  and  a  pro 
gressive  statesman.  Born  and  educated  in  Scotland,  the 
first  forty-six  years  of  his  life  were  wholly  spent  in  that 
country,  chiefly  in  clerical,  scholastic,  and  literary  pursuits  ; 
and  he  came  to  America  but  eight  years  before  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  with  the  sole  view  of  tak 
ing  the  college  under  his  charge.  And  such,  probably, 
would  have  been  the  peaceful  course  of  his  subsequent 
career,  but  for  the  war  which  presently  scattered  the 
students  to  their  homes  or  to  the  army.  His  occupation 


EDUCATION    AND    EARLY    ASSOCIATIONS.        39 

being  thus  temporarily  gone,  he  betook  himself  to  politics, 
and,  adapting  himself  completely  to  the  situation  of  af 
fairs,  became  a  zealous  and  noted  rebel  and  practical  man 
of  the  time.  His  services,  in  and  out  of  Congress,  were 
of  the  most  energetic  and  industrious  sort.  He  soon 
became  so  prominent,  that,  as  early  as  in  July,  1776? 
he  was  one  of  three  leaders  —  Putnam  and  Lee  being 
the  other  two  —  selected  for  the  honors  of  effigy-bu ruing 
by  the  British  soldiery  under  General  Howe  at  Staten 
Island.  He  was  a  plain-spoken  man  ;  and  when  ques 
tioned,  on  his  first  appearance  in  Congress,  in  1776? 
whether  he  thought  the  colonies  were  ripe  for  indepen 
dence,  he  answered,  "  Ripe  I  Yes  ;  rotting."  He  was  by 
nature  an  athletic  disciple ;  and  if  the  body  now  distin 
guished  by  the  designation  of  "  muscular  Christians  "  had 
been  distinctively  known  in  his  time,  he  would  undoubt 
edly  have  proved  himself  one  of  its  most  respectable  ex 
ponents.  He  returned  to  Princeton  in  1779,  to  repair 
the  battered  college  buildings,  renew  the  broken  library 
and  apparatus,  regather  the  students,  and  put  the  institu 
tion  again  on  its  feet. 

Young  Livingston  resided  two  years  at  Princeton,  and 
was  graduated  in  17^1,  at  the  age  of  seventeen.  He 
had  but  five  fellow-graduates,  only  one  of  whom,  Wil 
liam  B.  Giles,  of  Virginia,  was  destined  to  reach  any 
uncommon  distinction. 

As  to  what  his  habits  of  study  were  up  to  this  period  I 
have  not  found  any  direct  evidence,  except  his  own  state 
ment,  made  long  afterwards,  that  he  had  spent  his  time 
rather  idly  at  school,  and  still  more  so  at  college,  and 
that,  as  to  the  exact  sciences,  he  passed  them  over  with 
the  carelessness  natural  to  his  age,  learning  only  so  much 
as  was  necessary  to  the  obtaining  of  his  degrees.  But 
the  reader,  when  he  comes  to  examine,  in  another  part 


40  LIFE  OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

of  this  work,  the  series  of  letters  from  father  to  son 
in  which  that  statement  occurs,  will  find  that  it  is  given 
with  reference  to  a  standard  of  industry  which  most 
scholars  would  consider  severe,  and  that  it  is  coupled 
with  a  profession  on  the  part  of  the  writer  of  being 
then  "  but  an  indifferent  scholar,"  —  an  evidently  candid 
profession,  but  clearly  referring  to  a  criterion  which 
would  leave  few  good  scholars  in  the  world  of  active 
men.  In  the  same  connection  he  adds,  that,  on  mixing 
a  little  with  the  world,  he  was  fortunate  enough  to  dis 
cover  the  defects  of  his  education,  and  then  began  to 
remedy  them,  although  he  was  much  counteracted  in  his 
endeavors  by  his  former  habits  of  idleness  and  his  new 
pursuits  of  pleasure.  I  infer,  simply,  that  before  leaving 
college  he  did  not  acquire  those  habits  of  intense  appli 
cation  which  he  perfected  afterwards  and  cherished  to 
the  end  of  his  life. 

What  his  friends  thought  of  his  mind  and  his  tastes 
at  this  early  period  is  well  indicated  by  a  single  sentence 
in  one  of  John  Jay's  letters  to  Chancellor  Livingston, 
written  at  Paris  in  1783,  after  an  absence  of  four  years 
from  this  side  the  Atlantic.  "  I  send  you,"  it  runs, 
"  a  box  of  plaister  copies  of  medals  :  if  Mrs.  Livingston 
will  permit  you  to  keep  so  many  mistresses,  reserve  the 
ladies  for  yourself  and  give  the  philosophers  and  poets 
to  Edward."  *  That  the  latter  disposition  was  not 
inappropriate  will  be  evident  to  those  who  trace  Mr. 
Livingston's  career,  and  who  examine  his  principal,  even 
his  latest  performances.  The  distinctive  culture  of  phi 
losophy  and  poetry  by  a  youth  in  these  circumstances 
shows  plainly  an  uncontrollable  bent  of  nature.  The 
reader,  as  he  proceeds,  will  constantly  observe  a  like 
irresistible  force  leading  the  man,  even  in  the  midst  of  ex- 

*  Life  of  John  Jay,  pp.  174-181. 


EDUCATION    AND    EARLY   ASSOCIATIONS.         44 

traordinary  misfortunes,  depressing  cares,  and  real  strug 
gles,  to  reserve  his  best  powers  for  philanthropic  labors 
and  studies. 

On  leaving  college,  Edward  immediately  began  the 
study  of  law,  at  Albany,  in  the  office  of  John  Lansing, 
afterwards  the  second  of  the  New  York  chancellors. 
For  the  next  two  years  the  distractions  incident  to  the 
war  continued  ;  but  this  was  not  the  sole  nor  the  worst 
difficulty  then  in  .the  path  of  the  American  law-student. 
The  decisions  of  none  of  the  cis-Atlantic  courts  had  yet 
been  reported,  much  less  digested.  There  were  yet  no 
American  treatises.  The  rules  of  law  and  practice  were 
still  to  be  shaped  by  the  judges  through  the  process  of 
adapting  principles  and  precedents  from  English  juris 
prudence  to  our  new  institutions  and  statutes.  Under 
these  disadvantages  many  great  lawyers  studied.  James 
Kent,  Alexander  Hamilton,  and  Aaron  Burr  were  among 
Livingston's  intimate  fellow-students.  These,  with  others, 
were  in  the  habit  of  meeting,  at  Albany,  at  least  dur 
ing  one  season,  for  animated  discussions  of  legal  topics 
and  methods  of  study. 

Livingston  was  soon  strongly  attracted  to  the  civil  law, 
and  thoroughly  explored  the  Code,  Institutes,  Pandects, 
and  Novels  of  Justinian,  in  the  original,  with  some  of  the 
best  commentaries  upon  them.  In  order  to  do  this  he 
was  obliged,  at  the  same  time,  to  perfect  by  himself  his 
knowledge  of  the  previously  neglected  Latin. 

After  the  evacuation  of  New  York  by  the  British,  in 
November,  17 83,  the  winter  residence  of  his  family 
being  in  that  city,  he  continued  his  studies  there  until 
January,  17^5,  when  he  was  admitted  to  practice  as  an 
attorney. 

It  was  during  the  four  years  that  intervened  between 
his  leaving  college  and  his  admission  to  the  bar  that  he 


4£  LIFE  OF  EDWARD  LIVINGSTON. 

first  learned  the  real  art  of  study,  —  the  division  of  the 
day,  and  the  rigid  devotion  to  each  pursuit  of  the  hours 
or  minutes  that  belong  to  that  pursuit.  In  his  division 
his  old  acquaintances,  the  philosophers  and  the  poets,  were 
not  forgotten ;  general  literature  and  novels  had  their 
hours ;  and  society,  which  he  frequented  freely,  scarcely 
suspected  him  of  heing  a  student.  A  scrap  of  gilt-edged, 
Bath  paper  upon  which  at  this  period  he  wrote  the  follow 
ing  lines  *  has  come  to  my  possession,  huried  accidentally 
among  draughts  of  more  serious  compositions,  accumu 
lated  during  half  a  century. 

"  On  Edward's  table,  emblem  of  his  head, 
See  cards  and  pamphlets,  plays  and  law-books  spread. 
Here  lies  a  plea,  begun  with  special  care, 
Ending  with  '  Stanzas  on  Augusta's  Hair.' 
Gilt  poets  there  with  ancient  classics  mix  ; 
The  '  Attorney's  Guide  '  lies  close  to  *  Scapin's  tricks  ; ' 
Lo !  in  the  midst,  a  huge  black  lettered  book 
With  dust  begrimed,  ycleped  Coke. 
Memento-like  the  Gothic  volume  lies, 
And  still  '  Remember  you're  a  lawyer  ! '  cries ; 
Alas  !  unheeded  cries,  its  voice  is  drown'd 
By  frolic  Pleasure's  more  attractive  sound ; 
She  bids  her  roses  in  his  fancy  blow, 
And  laughing  cries,  '  Remember  you're  a  beau  ! ' ' 

At  the  same  period  he  paid  a  hyper-scrupulous  atten 
tion  to  the  mode  in  his  dress,  —  a  temporary  taste  which 
earned  him  a  temporary  title,  that  of  Beau  Ned,  and 
the  remembrance  of  which  was  to  furnish  him  with  a 
theme  for  occasional  laughter  to  the  end  of  his  life. 

*  Mr.  Livingston  always  retain-  period  referred  to  in  the  text.  This 
ed  what  he  early  manifested,  a  de-  piece  was  afterwards  given  by  him- 
cided  poetical  taste.  But  genius  is  self  or  some  member  of  his  family 
not  indicated  by  any  of  his  poetical  to  Mr.  Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  who, 
compositions  which  I  have  seen,  while  editor  of  the  Analectic  Mag- 
The  best  of  these  is  a  graceful  trans-  azine,  as  the  successor  of  Irving, 
lation,  in  rhyme,  of  the  Basium  Pri-  published  it,  as  the  production  of  an 
mum  of  the  celebrated  later  Latin  anonymous  American  poet,  in  that 
poet,  Johannes  Secundus,  which  he  periodical,  in  the  number  for  De- 
produced,  as  I  suppose,  at  about  the  cember,  1814,  pp.  517,  518. 


EDUCATION    AND    EARLY    ASSOCIATIONS.         4,3 

Lafayette,  soon  after  his  first  arrival  in  this  country, 
contracted  with  the  whole  family  of  Margaret  Beekmari  a 
particular  intimacy,  which  lasted  for  life,  sustained  by  a 
frequent  correspondence  during  more  than  half  a  century. 
Many  autograph  letters  of  this  illustrious  man,  addressed 
to  Mrs.  Montgomery  as  well  as  to  Edward  Livingston, 
are  before  me.  They  are  written  in  English,  and  gener 
ally  their  diction  is  perfectly  free,  vigorous,  and  correct, 
though  they  are  marked  by  the  occasional  employment  of 
Gallic  idioms.  Some  of  them  will  be  transcribed  in  the 
course  of  our  volume.  The  following  sentences  are  ex 
tracted  from  a  long  letter  of  the  Marquis  to  Mrs.  Mont 
gomery,  dated  at  Paris,  February  the  2£d,  1786. 

"  I  not  to  return  to  America,  Madam !  I  do  assure 
you  this  idea  would  render  me  most  miserable.  To  sever 
me  from  this  fond  hope  would  be  half  death  to  me.  If 
born  in  France,  I  have  been  educated  in  America.  So 
many  friends  there  ;  so  many  recollections  at  every  step  ! 
This  year  I  am  not  able  to  go.  But  the  year  after  this,  I 
hope  I  shall,  as  I  want  to  place  a  visit  before  the  time 
when  I  will  bring  my  son  over  to  spend  three  years  on 
your  happy  side  of  the  Atlantic.  He  has  been  made  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  he  must  go  and  learn 
on  what  principles  he  can  deserve  the  flattering  gratifi 


cation." 


"  Be  so  kind,  Dear  Madam,  as  to  present  my  best  and 
most  affectionate  respects  to  the  ladies  and  the  gentle 
men  of  your  beloved  family.  I  feel  as  if  I  was  one  of 
them.  Remember  me  often  to  them,  and  let  my  name 
be  now  and  then  pronounced  in  the  family  conversation. 
I  heartily  feel  for  John's  misfortunes,  which,  added  to  an 
irreparable  loss,  must  be  too  heavy  indeed.  I  think  a 
voyage  with  you  will  do  him  good,  and  I  hope,  as  Ma 
dame  de  Lafayette  takes  the  liberty  to  entreat  you  with 


44  LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

me,  that  your  intended  excursion  to   Europe  mayn't  be 
deferred."  * 

The  chivalric  young  foreigner  produced,  at  the  first,  an 
ineffaceable  impression  upon  the  mind  and  heart  of  Edward, 
who  made  the  most  of  his  opportunity  for  cultivating  a 
friendship  destined  to  be  as  enduring  as  it  was  pleasing 
and  honorable.  Boy  as  he  was,  he  was  several  times  per 
mitted  to  leave  school  to  become  a  guest  of  the  Marquis 
at  head-quarters.  How  he  succeeded  in  fixing  the  interest 
and  regard  of  Lafayette,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact 
that  when  the  latter,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  was  about 
sailing  for  France,  he  had  set  his  heart  upon  taking  the 
youth  with  him,  and  had  exerted  himself  to  overcome  the 
objections  and  refusal  which  had  been  interposed  by  Mrs. 
Livingston,  who,  after  reflection,  had  declared  that  she  felt 
that  her  son  had  work  to  do  at  home.  He  could  hardly 
give  up  the  plan  ;  and  when  his  young  friend  had  accom 
panied  him  some  distance  on  the  road  to  Boston,  whence  he 
was  to  embark,  he  impulsively  proposed  still  to  take  him 
along,  to  assume  himself  all  the  dereliction,  and  to  insure  a 
pardon  from  the  mother,  to  be  sued  for  from  France. 
This  strong  temptation  —  for  Edward's  inclination  ren 
dered  it  such  —  was  with  some  difficulty  resisted.  It  is 
impossible  here  not  to  speculate  upon  the  total  change  in 

*  During  Lafayette's  triumphal  inquired  of  Colonel  Fish,  "  Where 
visit  to  this  country  in  1824,  in  Sep-  is  my  friend  Colonel  Harry  Living- 
tember,  the  steamboat  James  Kent  ston  ?  "  Soon  afterwards,  while  the 
was  chartered  by  the  citizens  of  New  steamer  was  at  the  Kingston  dock, 
York  to  carry  their  illustrious  guest  Colonel  Livingston,  having  crossed 
upon  an  excursion  to  Albany,  stop-  the  river  in  a  small  boat  from  Rhine- 
ping  wherever  he  might  wish  along  beck,  came  on  board.  As  soon  as 
the  river.  On  the  way  up,  the  party  their  eyes  met,  the  two  friends,  —  the 
spent  a  morning  with  General  Mor-  Marquis  and  the  Colonel,  —  now  old 
gan  Lewis  and  Gertrude  Livingston  men,  rushed  into  each  other's  arms, 
at  their  country-seat  at  Staatsburg,  embraced  and  kissed  each  other,  to 
and  passed  the  evening  festively  at  the  astonishment  of  the  Americans 
Clermont,  being  entertained  by  the  present.  The  Colonel  had  served 
heir  of  Chancellor  Livingston  Af-  under  Lafayette  in  Rhode  Island  and 
ter  leaving  Staatsburg,  the  Marquis  at  Valley  Forge. 


EDUCATION    AND    EARLY    ASSOCIATIONS.         45 

fortune  and  fate  which  might  have  awaited  the  American 
boy,  involved  in  the  orhit  of  the  young  French  nobleman, 
destined  first  to  guide  a  mighty  revolution,  and  then  to  be 
absorbed  by  it.  But,  though  the  careers  of  the  two 
friends  were  thenceforth  to  be  as  distinct  as  their  hemi 
spheres,  the  younger  continued  to  be  the  other's  "  Dear 
Edward  "  for  upwards  of  sixty  years. 

The  characteristic  vigor  and  spirit  of  the  children  of 
Margaret  Beekman  were  as  conspicuous  in  their  amuse 
ments  as  in  their  enterprises.  They  relate  of  Mrs.  Mont 
gomery  that  once,  in  advanced  life,  after  entertaining  all 
day  a  guest  of  the  heavy  sort,  she  expressed  relief  at  his 
departure  in  an  audible  sigh.  One  of  her  nieces  said  to 
her,  "  Why,  aunt,  you  have  not  much  patience  with  dull 
people."  "  Ah,  no,  my  dear,"  she  answered,  "  I  have 
never  been  used  to  them."  To  the  same  purpose  is  the 
testimony  of  Edward  recorded,  after  many  years  of  tur 
moil  and  misfortune,  in  a  letter  to  one  of  his  life-long 
friends.  "  The  account,"  says  he,  "  you  give  me  of  Mrs. 
Du  Ponceau  has  very  much  affected  me.  She  is  one  of 
my  earliest  and  best  friends,  and  the  remembrance  of  our 
early  acquaintance  connects  itself  with  those  scenes  which, 
of  all  I  have  since  gone  through,  have  left  the  strongest 
and  most  pleasant  impression  on  my  mind.  I  allude  to 
the  time  when  our  numerous  family  (of  which  she  was 
always  considered  a  daughter)  were  collected  at  Clermont. 
You  were  a  witness  to  the  harmony  that  united,  to  the 
gayety  that  inspired  us  under  the  auspices  of  that  excel 
lent  mother  who  was  never  happy  but  when  her  children 
and  her  guests  were  so." 


CHAPTER    IV. 

EARLY    PROFESSIONAL   CAREER. 

New  York  in  1785  — The  Bar— Federal  Hall  — The   Mayor's  Court 

—  James  Duane  —  The  Case  of  Rutgers  versus  Waddington — Richard 
Varick  —  Egbert   Benson  —  John  Sloss  Hobart  —  Brockholdst  Livingston 

—  Burr  and  Hamilton  —  Early  Professional  Career  of  Edward  Livingston 

—  His  Marriage  —  Election  to  Congress. 

THE  city  of  New  York  retains  hardly  a  trace  of  the 
features  it  wore  in  1785.  Its  population  and  the 
area  of  its  built-up  portion  are  each  forty  times  as  great 
as  they  were  in  that  year.  Chambers  Street  was  then 
a  northern  outskirt,  beyond  which  the  island  was  all  as 
rural  as  the  vicinity  of  Kingsbridge,  except  the  village 
of  Haarlem.  Canal  Street  was  a  creek,  Spruce  Street 
a  swamp,  and  the  whole  neighborhood  of  The  Tombs, 
city  prison,  a  fresh-water  pond.  Mayor  Duane  had  a 
farm,  through  which  ran  a  winding  brook,  where  Gra- 
mercy  Park  is.  The  present  Charlton  Street  passes  the 
site  of  the  house  at  Richmond  Hill  to  which  Aaron 
Burr  carried  his  household  gods  every  spring.  Similar 
farms  and  country-seats  abounded  as  far,  or  still  farther 
south  than  these.  Broadway  was  not  paved  or  flagged 
above  Vesey  Street.  The  Park  was  a  rough,  unenclosed 
common.  The  Battery  was  the  one  fashionable  place  of 
promenade.  The  great  fire  of  1776  had  left  a  large 
blot  upon  the  face  of  the  city,  and  most  of  the  houses 
which  remained  standing  bore  plain  traces  of  the  worse 
than  careless  occupation  of  the  enemy's  soldiery.  No 
daily  stage-coach  as  yet  plied  on  the  road  to  Albany, 


EARLY   PROFESSIONAL   CAREER.  4/7 

and  travellers  between  the  two  cities  usually  braved  the 
perils  and  delays  of  sloop  navigation  on  the  river.  The 
newspaper  was  an  infantile  institution,  and  showed  only 
dubious  signs  of  inherent  vitality.  A  leading  sample, 
"  The  New  York  Packet,"  semi-weekly,  —  swelling  with 
the  Virgilian  motto,  "  Tros  Tyriusque  mihi  nullo  discrim- 
ine  agetur"  —  was  a  rusty  little  folio  of  four  pages,  and 
sixteen  columns,  five  of  which,  including  a  poet's  cor 
ner,  were  devoted  to  news  and  miscellany,  parading  a 
frightful  literary  poverty,  and  the  other  eleven  given  to 
curious  advertisements,  in  which  buyers  and  sellers,  bor 
rowers  and  lenders,  dry  and  wet  nurses,  and  those  who 
required  the  services  of  either,  commonly  directed  their 
correspondents  to  confer  with  the  printer,  Mr.  Samuel 
Loudon,  who  was  at  the  same  time  printer  to  the  State. 
Wall  Street  and  the  metropolis  had  but  one  bank, — 
the  Bank  of  New  York ;  and  of  that  institution  a 
large  proportion  of  the  leading  citizens  were  directors. 
The  first  of  the  annual  city  directories,  not  published 
till  the  following  year,  was  a  primer  of  eighty-two 
coarsely  printed  pages. 

Such  facts,  considered  in  connection  with  the  present 
magnitude  and  splendor  of  New  York,  furnish  lively 
illustration  of  the  prodigious  vitality  which,  repressed 
and  for  a  time  smothered  by  the  war,  yet  existed  in  the 
young  metropolis,  ready  to  blaze  up  the  moment  of  the 
joint  establishment  of  independence  and  peace.  Immi 
gration  and  building,  all  the  branches  of  trade,  and  every 
description  of  business,  started  at  once  upon  a  growth 
which,  to  this  day,  has  not  ceased  to  appear  magical. 

There  were  special  reasons  why  litigation  should  not 
and  did  not,  even  at  the  first,  lag  behind  the  other  de 
partments  of  industry.  The  long  military  possession  of 
the  enemy  ;  the  losses  arising  from  the  suspension  of 


48  LIFE  OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

rents,  and  damages  done  by  loyalist  tenants  during  a 
reckless  occupation  of  houses ;  the  destruction  or  re 
moval  of  records,  and  consequent  indistinctness  of  many 
titles  ;  the  processes  for  confiscation  of  property  for  tory- 
ism ;  the  swift  mutation  in  the  relative  value  of  money, 
property,  and  securities,  and  the  sudden  tightening  of 
pecuniary  obligations,  the  sense  of  which  had  been  loos 
ened  for  some  years,  —  gave  rise  to  abundant  questions, 
which  could  only  be  settled  in  the  courts. 

The  supply  of  first-rate  abilities  at  the  bar  of  New 
York  was,  at  that  time,  commensurate  with  the  demand. 
So  small  a  community  inevitably  measured  every  candi 
date  for  professional  standing,  and  the  unlearned  or  me 
diocre  aspirant  stood  at  a  fatal  disadvantage  among  such 
competitors  as  Robert  Troup,  Egbert  Benson,  Brock- 
holdst  Livingston,  Melancthon  Smith,  Aaron  Burr,  and 
Alexander  Hamilton.  The  roll  of  the  city  bar  numbered 
less  than  forty  members.  Among  the  additions  made 
to  the  list  during  the  few  years  following  were  Josiah 
Ogden  Hoffmann  and  James  Kent. 

The  courts  were  held  in  a  building  which  stood  at 
the  corner  of  Wall  and  Nassau  streets,  where  the  Uni 
ted  States  long  afterwards  erected  their  custom-house. 
The  old  edifice  had  suffered  a  good  deal  of  mutilation 
during  the  military  occupation  of  the  city  by  the  Brit 
ish,  and  after  the  evacuation,  having  received  alterations 
and  repairs,  became  "  Federal  Hall."  In  it  the  oath  of 
office  was  administered  to  the  first  President  by  Chan 
cellor  Livingston. 

The  Mayor's  Court,  though  an  inferior  tribunal,  be 
came,  under  the  administration  of  Mr.  Duane,  the  favor 
ite  and  really  most  important  forum.  Eight  had  been 
the  limited  number  of  those  who  were  allowed  to  prac 
tice  in  this  court ;  but  in  1 784  the  restriction  was  re- 


EARLY    PROFESSIONAL    CAREER.  49 

moved,  in  favor  of  all  attorneys  and  counsellors  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  It  was  in  consequence  of  this  change 
of  policy,  coupled  with  the  high  juridical  reputation  of 
Duane,  that  the  Mayor's  Court  suddenly  acquired  by 
common  consent  a  business  and  an  authority  scarcely 
contemplated  by  the  statutes  creating  it. 

James  Duane  was  connected  with  the  Livingstons, 
having  married  the  eldest  daughter  of  Robert,  third 
proprietor  of  the  manor.  He  had  practised  law  before 
the  Revolution  with  great  industry  and  success ;  had 
been  an  active  member  of  the  revolutionary  Congress 
and  of  the  first  constitutional  Convention  of  the  State, 
and  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  Federal  Constitution ; 
and  he  attained  such  reputation  and  authority  as  a 
judge,  that,  after  six  years'  service  as  Mayor,  Wash 
ington  pressed  upon  him  an  unexpected  appointment  to 
the  bench  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States 
for  New  York,  which  he  accepted,  and  retained  with 
increased  distinction,  till  age  and  ill  health,  in  1794*, 
drove  him  into  retirement. 

It  was  in  one  of  the  earliest  causes  tried  in  the 
Mayor's  Court,  before  Duane,  in  the  year  1784,  —  the 
case  of  Rutgers  versus  Waddington, — that  Alexander 
Hamilton,  who  had  shown  marvellous  and  precocious 
military  and  oratorical  abilities,  first  demonstrated,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-seven,  that  he  was  a  great  lawyer.  It 
was  an  action  for  damages  for  the  use  of  premises  in 
the  city  during  the  British  occupation,  brought  by  the 
widow  of  a  Whig  who  had  been  driven  from  his  prop 
erty,  against  a  British  subject  who  had  occupied  it  under 
permission  from  the  enemy,  —  an  action  specially  authorized 
by  an  act  of  the  New  York  legislature,  passed  March  17, 
1783,  which  declared  that  occupation  under  any  mili 
tary  order  should  be  no  defence  in  such  a  case.  The 

7 


,50  LIFE    OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

defendant,  nevertheless,  pleaded  the  military  possession 
of  the  city  by  the  British,  and  authority  to  himself  to 
use  the  premises  for  a  part  of  the  time  from  the  com 
missary-general,  and  from  the  Commander-in-Chief  direct 
ly  for  the  remainder,  together  with  the  treaty  of  peace, 
which  in  terms  relinquished  and  released  all  claims 
which  the  citizens  of  either  nation  might  have  against 
those  of  the  other  on  account  of  damage  done  to  the 
public  or  individuals  during  the  war.  The  plaintiff  de 
murred  to  this  plea,  and  upon  the  issue  of  law  so  pre 
sented  the  cause  was  argued.  The  counsel  for  the  plain 
tiff  were  Messrs.  Lawrence  and  Wilcox,  Robert  Troup, 
and  the  Attorney-General  of  New  York,  Egbert  Ben 
son.  For  the  defendant,  William  S.  Livingston,  Morgan 
Lewis,  and  Mr.  Hamilton  appeared.  The  brunt  of  the 
argument  was  sustained  by  Benson  on  the  one  side,  and 
on  the  other  by  Hamilton.  The  rights  of  the  States, 
and  the  relations  of  their  sovereignty  and  that  of  the 
Federal  Government,  were  discussed  in  such  a  masterly 
and  exhaustive  way  as  to  settle  what  thence  became 
elementary  doctrines  upon  those  subjects.  The  decision 
of  the  Court  was,  that  the  license  of  the  British  com 
missary-general  was  legally  insufficient  to  protect  the 
defendant  from  the  plaintiff's  claim  for  damages  under 
the  statute  ;  but  that  the  military  possession  by  the  en 
emy  and  the  authority  from  the  Comrnander-in-Chief 
constituted  a  perfect  defence  to  the  other  portion  of  the 
demand,  notwithstanding  the  statute,  which,  the  Mayor 
held,  could  not  have  been  intended  to  go  to  such  a 
length  as  a  repudiation  of  the  treaty  between  the  Gen 
eral  Government  and  Great  Britain,  and  which,  if  that 
were  its  meaning,  would  be  so  far  void,  because  contra 
vening  the  Law  of  Nations,  which  the  constitution  had 
made  the  law  of  the  State.  The  legislature  and  a 


EARLY    PROFESSIONAL   CAREER.  51 

portion  of  the  people  felt  a  good  deal  of  dissatisfac 
tion  with  this  judgment,  —  a  dissatisfaction  which  the 
former  expressed  in  resolutions,  and  which  the  latter 
discussed  in  a  public  meeting,  in  whose  proceedings  an 
active  part  was  taken  by  Melancthon  Smith,  a  promi 
nent  lawyer  and  politician. 

Richard  Varick  was  recorder  of  the  city,  and  by  vir 
tue  of  that  office,  the  Mayor's  judicial  colleague.  He 
had  just  commenced  the  practice  of  law  in  the  city  when 
Independence  was  declared,  whereupon  he  joined  the 
army,  in  which  he  served  with  credit,  reaching  the  rank 
of  Lieutenant-Colonel  during  the  war,  and  getting  the 
judicial  appointment  at  its  close.  He  was  a  stately  gen 
tleman,  of  high  character,  austere  views,  and  mediocre 
talents.  He  succeeded  Duane  in  the  mayoralty,  and  so 
presided  in  the  court  for  many  years.  Two  or  three 
lawyers  yet  living  speak  of  his  judicial  traits  from  per 
sonal  recollection.  Their  main  reminiscences  are  that 
he  gave  pleasing  bar  dinners,  and  that  he  was  given  to 
reversing  the  humane  maxim  of  the  common  law,  and 
presuming  a  person  accused  to  be  guilty  until  his  in 
nocence  was  pretty  clearly  established.  Public  whipping, 
as  a  punishment  for  certain  misdemeanors,  was  in  his 
time  authorized  by  the  laws  of  New  York.  He  was,  I 
believe,  the  latest  judge  who  pronounced  this  penalty 
here.  Some  of  his  sentences  of  this  kind  —  and  one  in 
particular,  towards  the  end  of  his  term  —  excited  some 
popular  indignation.  He  was  finally,  in  1801,  removed 
from  the  mayoralty  on  political  grounds.  In  the  news 
papers  of  the  time  it  is  chronicled,  that,  after  his  dis 
missal  from  office,  a  culprit  against  whom  he  had  pro 
nounced  a  sentence  alleged  to  be  as  illegal  as  it  was 
severe,  brought  a  civil  action  against  him  for  the 
wrong,  —  an  action  which  he  was  fain  to  compromise, 


52  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

without  a  trial,  by  the  payment  of  five  hundred  dollars 
as  damages. 

Egbert  Benson  was  a  very  superior  lawyer,  not  only 
in  point  of  technical  learning,  but  also  with  regard  to 
the  principles  and  philosophy  upon  which  the  law  rests. 
In  those  principles  and  that  philosophy  he  was,  in  the 
opinion  of  Chancellor  Kent,  more  profoundly  versed  than 
any  of  his  compeers,  except  Hamilton.  It  was  in  his 
office  that  Kent  studied  law.  He  had  started  in  prac 
tice  at  Red  Hook,  a  little  before  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence,  after  which  he  devoted  himself  to  the  Rev 
olutionary  cause.  He  was  prominent  in  the  work  of 
framing  the  new  constitution  and  government  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  and  became  the  first  Attorney-General 
of  the  State.  He  was  a  man  of  great  industry  and 
method,  and  acquired  much  curious  miscellaneous  learn 
ing.  He  wrote  an  erudite  memoir  upon  the  names  of 
places,  which  has  been  published  by  the  New  York  His 
torical  Society.  He  was  fond  of  literary  labor,  but  in 
his  style  cultivated  a  sententiousness  and  brevity  which 
often  lapsed  into  or  bordered  upon  eccentricity  and  ob 
scurity.  A  mild  sample  of  this  peculiarity  is  familiar 
to  the  eyes  of  the  New  York  bar,  in  the  inscription  of 
a  marble  slab  which  he  erected  to  the  memory  of  his 
friend,  Judge  Hobart,  in  the  room  of  the  city-hall  first 
occupied  by  the  Supreme  Court. 

John  Sloss  Hobart  appears  to  have  shown  no  distin 
guishing  talent  and  no  notable  trait,  but  still  to  have 
possessed  such  an  assemblage  of  qualities  as  gave  him 
a  leading  and  secure  influence  among  his  contemporaries. 
Without  any  regular  legal  education  he  went,  in  1777? 
upon  the  bench  of  the  first  Supreme  Court  of  New  York, 
from  which  he  was,  by  the  constitution,  obliged  to  re 
tire  at  the  age  of  sixty  years.  Nevertheless,  he  was 


EARLY   PROFESSIONAL 


5 

afterwards  appointed  judge  of  the  District  Court 
United  States  for  the  District  of  New  York,  by  Pres 
ident  Adams,  to  whose  party  his  attachment  was  firm, 
if  not  bigoted.  His  judicial  career  was  respectable. 
He  had  been  a  prominent  actor  in  the  Kingston  Con 
vention,  and  represented  New  York  in  the  Federal  Senate 
from  February  to  April,  1  798  ;  after  which  short  sena 
torial  career  his  acceptance  of  the  judgeship  of  the  Dis 
trict  Court  withdrew  him  from  that  body.  On  the 
whole,  he  appears  to  have  been  one  of  those  either  lucky 
or  adroit  steersmen  who,  in  the  voyage  of  life,  are  quite 
sure  to  leave  many  an  abler  fellow-sailor  behind. 

Brockholdst  Livingston  —  a  kinsman  of  our  subject 
—  has  been  mentioned  in  his  place  in  the  first  chapter. 
He  was  an  accomplished  scholar,  a  brilliant  advocate,  and 
a  successful  judge.  Those  who  would  like  to  see  a 
sample  of  his  general  learning  and  his  wit  will  find  an 
extraordinary  opinion  which  he  delivered  from  the  bench 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York,  in  the  adjudged 
case  of  Pierson  versus  Post,  by  referring  to  3  Caines's 
Reports,  17-5.  The  question  before  the  court  related  to 
the  rights  of  a  hunter  in  the  game  he  had  started,  and 
after  long  chase  nearly  captured,  as  against  an  interloper 
who,  chancing  to  come  by  at  the  eleventh  hour,  killed 
and  appropriated  the  animal.  The  decision  of  the  court, 
resting  upon  strict  law,  was  adverse  to  the  meritorious 
Nimrod's  claim  for  redress.  Judge  Livingston  took 
the.  occasion  to  express  his  dissent  from  the  conclusions 
of  his  brethren,  where  his  dissent  could  do  no  harm, 
in  an  opinion  of  considerable  length,  in  which  the  gravity 
of  the  ermine  laboriously  treads  the  verge  of  refined 
drollery.  It  is  such  an  opinion  as  Charles  Lamb  might 
have  prepared  for  hypothetical  delivery  upon  the  same 
state  of  facts,  unhampered  by  any  judicial  responsibility. 


54«  LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

This  was  in  1805,  only  a  year  before  Judge  Livingston's 
promotion  to  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States. 

An  incident  in  Brockholdst  Livingston's  career  illus 
trates  a  remarkable  change  which  the  customs  of  New 
York  have  undergone.  In  May,  1798,  while  he  was 
practising  law,  he  wrote,  for  the  "  Argus  "  newspaper,  a 
humorous  paragraph,  relating  to  a  meeting  of  political 
opponents  assembled  to  praise  John  Adams  and  his  ad 
ministration.  The  point  of  the  paragraph  was,  that  the 
meeting  was  one  of  young  men,  presided  over  by  Mr. 
Fish,  a  stripling  of  about  forty-eight  years,  and  graced 
by  the  presence  of  Master  Jemmy  Jones,  another  boy  of 
sixty,  —  a  proof  of  patriotic  zeal  on  the  part  of  the 
rising  generation  upon  which  the  country  was  congrat 
ulated.  The  indignation  of  the  last-named  of  the  two 
gentlemen  thus  ridiculed  found  expression  in  a  demand 
for  an  explanation  from  the  writer,  made  while  the  latter 
was  walking,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  children,  on 
the  Battery,  —  a  demand  ending  in  an  assault  with  a 
cane.  For  this  Mr.  Livingston  promptly  challenged, 
fought,  and  killed  Mr.  Jones,  and  quietly  returned  to  his 
family  promenades,  —  a  course  which,  if  it  did  not  ac 
celerate,  appears  at  least  not  to  have  retarded  his  ad 
vancement. 

Central  figures  among  the  lawyers  of  the  city  at  that 
period  were  two  persons  of  small  stature  but  gigantic  am 
bition,  whose  several  fates  attracted  and  have  retained  to 
this  day  a  wonderful  popular  interest,  —  Aaron  Burr  and 
Alexander  Hamilton.  Their  subsequent  duel,  in  which  the 
latter  fell,  produced  as  remarkable  effects  upon  the  man 
ners  of  the  time  as  upon  the  destinies  of  the  parties.  The 
result  was  an  advantage  to  the  fame  of  the  falling  man 
and  a  fatal  victory  to  the  survivor.  An  encounter,  in  its 


EARLY  PROFESSIONAL  CAREER.  55 

main  features  of  an  e very-day  character,  lifted  the  former 
into  a  sudden  apotheosis,  and  hurled  the  other  into  complete 
outlawry.  A  provocation  not  less  real  than  such  provoca 
tions  as  were  ordinarily  recognized  hy  the  code  of  honor 
which  prevailed,  a  correspondence  not  more  foolish  than 
was  the  fashion,  a  comhat  not  so  revolting  in  its  circum 
stances  as  often  took  place  between  prominent  persons 
about  the  same  time  without  disturbing  the  nerves  of  the 
community,  all  came  in  one  day  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
public,  and,  presto  !  change  !  Hamilton  was  a  godlike  and 
immaculate  creature,  cut  down  in  the  flower  of  his  virtue 
by  a  smooth  and  malignant  being  wearing  the  human  shape, 
but  of  a  power  and  wickedness  hardly  less  than  Satanic, 
— a  judgment  which  maintains  its  hold  upon  the  popular 
mind  to  this  day.  In  this  judgment  there  was  a  double 
exaggeration.  Hamilton  was  not  a  saint,  by  any  means, 
nor  was  Burr  quite  a  Mephistopheles.  The  latter  had 
commenced  his  downward  course,  but  he  was  still  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States  with  at  least  a  chance  of 
reaching  the  higher  office,  and  with  the  mental  resources 
which  had  enabled  him  to  rise,  undiminished.  He  had 
some  redeeming  traits;  but  he  was  radically  dishonest,  prof 
ligate,  and  criminally  aspiring.  The  penalty  he  paid  was 
not  so  absolutely  unjust  as  it  was  out  of  proportion  to  his 
sins,  when  compared  with  the  punishment  which  the  world 
commonly  metes  out  to  similar,  even  the  worst  offenders. 
In  politics  and  in  life,  his  principal  faith  was  in  the  power 
of  subtle  and  sleepless  intrigue ;  and  when  that  power  de 
serted  him,  his  fall  was  like  Lucifer's.  There  is  a  logical 
fitness  in  the  eventual  overthrow  and  ruin  of  such  a  man  ; 
but  the  altogether  unusual  rancor  with  which  he  was 
hunted  by  public  opinion  for  thirty-two  years,  while  he 
lived,  and  the  pertinacity  of  reprobation  with  which  his 
memory  —  as  a  foil  to  that  of  Hamilton  —  has  ever  since 


56  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

been  visited,  have  been  nothing  less,  in  a  good  degree, 
than  a  notable  triumph  of  gossip  and  a  caprice  of  his 
tory. 

Edward  Livingston  began  his  professional  career  in 
this  field  and  among  these  competitors.  That  he  gained 
at  once  a  respectable,  and  soon  an  eminent  standing,  would 
prove  both  his  early  industry  and  his  uncommon  parts. 
At  the  starting-point  he  signally  deviated  from  the  usual 
history  of  great  lawyers.  Poverty,  obscurity,  threadbare 
patience,  and  irrepressible  tenacity  of  will  are,  much  of- 
tener  than  otherwise,  the  combination  which  leads  through 
special  triumphs  to  high  forensic  reputation.  No  other 
profession  or  art  exacts  from  those  who  would  excel  in  it 
more  absolute  devotion  than  the  law.  Affluence  and  ease 
are  clogs  upon  that  kind  of  devotion.  He  who  reaches  the 
highest  rank  as  a  lawyer,  in  spite  of  an  easy  start,  must 
be  gifted  with  an  extraordinary  bent  and  an  extraordinary 
will.  Mr.  Livingston  did  reach  the  very  pinnacle,  as  we 
shall  see,  without  undergoing  the  customary  early  struggle 
against  dire  necessity.  He  had  a  large  family  connection 
in  the  city,  as  well  as  in  the  State.  His  brother,  the  Chan 
cellor,  had  practised  there  with  reputation  for  several  years 
preceding  the  Revolution.  He  had  other  relatives  in  the 
profession,  and  still  others  who  were  active  and  opulent 
merchants,  and  his  family  name  was  a  strong  influence  in 
the  community  at  large.  His  own  expectations  as  to 
hereditary  property,  if  not  large,  were  something  and  in 
definite  ;  and  he  was  entirely  beyond  any  pressure  of  im 
mediate  want.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  the  petted  young 
est  child  of  a  large,  social,  and  even  gay  household.  The 
town-house  which  had  been  the  winter  residence  of  his 
father  when  living,  continued  in  the  possession  of  his 
mother  during  all  these  post-Revolutionary  years;  and 
here  Edward  lived  with  her,  and  kept  his  office.  The 


EARLY  PROFESSIONAL  CAREER.  $J 

house  was  No.   51   Queen  Street,  which  was  a  part  of 
the  present  Pearl,  ahove,  and  beginning  at,  Wall  Street. 

The  hospitable  city  drawing-room  of  Margaret  Beek- 
man  was  frequented  by  many  brilliant  men,  including  most 
of  the  members  of  the  bar  just  mentioned,  attracted  by 
the  society  of  Mrs.  Montgomery  and  of  her  sisters  yet 
unmarried;  and  the  house  was  much  visited  by  officers  and 
gentlemen  of  foreign  birth,  particularly  Frenchmen.  All 
the  family  conversed  fluently  in  the  French  language,  and 
since  their  intimacy  with  Lafayette,  had  been  especially 
inclined  to  cultivate  the  acquaintance  of  his  friends  and 
countrymen. 

The  staple  of  conversation  in  this  set  was  not  small- 
talk,  but  included  earnest  discussions  of  politics  and  litera 
ture.  Articles  upon  such  topics,  written  for  the  public 
papers,  were  often  read  there  by  their  authors  before  pub 
lication.  But  the  tone  of  this  society  was  not  always 
solemn;  and  whatever  was  ludicrous  was  seldom  passed 
over  without  due  attention.  One  evening  the  company 
listened  to  a  eulogy  upon  Washington,  read  by  a  foreigner 
but  written  in  English,  so  full  of  unnaturalized  idioms  that 
the  performance  was  received  at  first  with  smiles,  arid 
finally  with  peals  of  inextinguishable  laughter. 

Mrs.  Livingston  invariably  left  the  company  and  re 
tired  to  her  own  apartment  at  ten  o'clock,  after  which 
Mrs.  Montgomery  and  some  of  her  most  habitual  guests 
were  fond  of  a  game  of  whist,  —  a  game  not  interdicted 
by  the  pious  old  lady,  but  which,  in  deference  to  her  tastes, 
they  never  commenced  in  her  presence.  Inquiring  on  one 
occasion  of  a  guest,  who  was  a  relation  and  a  judge,  how 
late  it  was,  and  being  told  that  it  was  ten  o'clock,  she 
playfully  replied,  "  Ah,  Maturin,  is  it  not  always  that 
hour  by  your  watch  ?  "  and  laughingly  retired. 

The  good  old  lady  was  a  close  observer  of  society  in 

8 


58  LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

the  city.  To  an  intimate  friend,  Mr.  Vanderkemp,  she 
wrote  from  town,  in  1792,  — "  This  place  is  all  gayety  and 
festivity,  —  parties  every  night  in  the  week,  —  fortunes 
tumbling  in  the  laps  of  very  many  people  in  so  rapid  a 
manner  as  was  never  dreamt  of  before.  In  this  flow 
of  riches  dissipation  abounds.  Gaming  is  carried  on  to 
a  great  extent,  and  large  sums  lost  and  won.  A  gentle 
man  from  Philadelphia  is  sitting  by  me,  who  relates  that 
Mrs.  K.  took  home  four  hundred  dollars  won  here  at  the 
card-table  in  one  sitting.  Surely  these  are  great  evils. 
In  a  retrospective  glance  at  all  the  great  empires  of  by 
gone  ages,  cannot  we  date  their  downfall  and  departure 
from  public  virtue  and  patriotism  to  the  period  when 
wealth  and  power  abounded!  Luxury  and  dissipation 
with  gigantic  strides  then  overturned  all  that  had  been 
achieved  by  their  virtuous  fathers,  and  anarchy  and  ruin 
followed.  These  are  examples  Americans  ought  never 
to  lose  sight  of,  and  they  must  make  them  tremble  for 
our  infant  empire." 

If  Edward,  whose  disposition  was  always  social,  was, 
in  these  circumstances,  tempted  on  the  one  hand  to 
forego  in  any  degree  that  intense  application  which  ne 
cessarily  precedes  success  at  the  bar,  he  was  stimulated 
on  the  other  hand  by  the  expectations  which  the  family 
had  formed  in  his  behalf.  They  were  proud  of  his  talents, 
and  anxious  for  their  practical  display.  He  managed 
without  neglecting  society  to  include  in  his  professional 
reading  a  profounder  study  of  the  Roman  law,  at  the 
same  time  that  he  gave  much  attention  to  general  lit 
erature,  and  especially  to  the  still  further  perfecting  of 
his  acquaintance  with  several  ancient  Greek  and  Latin 
authors. 

On  the  fly-leaf  of  his  Longinus  he  wrote,  early  in 
this  period,  the  following  lines  :  — 


EARLY  PROFESSIONAL  CAREER.  59 

"  Longinus,  give  thy  lessons  o'er ; 

I  do  not  need  thy  rules  : 
Let  pedants  on  thy  precepts  pore, 

Or  give  them  to  the  schools. 
The  perfect  beauty  which  you  seek, 

In  Anna's  verse  I  find  ; 
It  glows  on  fair  Eliza's  cheek, 

And  dwells  in  Mary's  mind." 

The  three  ladies  here  celebrated  were  the  daughters 
of  Charles  McEvers,  Esquire,  a  merchant  of  New  York. 
Their  beauty  and  accomplishments  were  such  as  to  make 
the  above  compliments  not  mere  empty  flattery.  The 
oldest,  Mary,  was  Edward's  choice,  and  they  were  mar 
ried  on  the  10th  of  April,  1788.  She  was  a  person  of 
a  striking  and  refined  appearance,  and  known  for  the 
sterling  and  sturdy  character  of  her  religion  and  virtues. 
The  mutual  inclination  of  the  parties  was  seconded  by 
the  approbation  of  both  families,  and  the  alliance  was 
happy  in  every  way. 

Of  this  period,  extending  to  the  year  1794s  little  rel 
evant  to  our  subject  remains  to  be  said.  Mr.  Livingston, 
leading  a  life  of  continuous  labor,  study,  and  perfect 
domestic  happiness,  grew  steadily  in  reputation,  until,  at 
the  age  of  thirty,  he  was  eminent  in  his  profession,  es 
pecially  as  an  advocate,  distinguished  for  an  easy,  copious, 
and  polished  oratory,  a  dignified  and  courteous  demeanor, 
and  a  steady  and  influential  character.  The  even  tenor 
of  the  course  just  described  had  met  with  no  variation 
for  nine  years,  except  that  during  the  popular  struggle 
which  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution 
he  had  felt  a  lively  interest  and  had  taken  an  active  part 
in  favor  of  the  measure,  and  had  all  the  while  cultivated 
a  standing  and  influence  in  the  then  forming  Republican 
party,  —  a  thing,  with  his  family  connections  to  aid  his 
own  exertions,  very  easily  managed.  This  led,  in  1794, 
to  the  interruption  of  his  professional  career,  in  his 


(30  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

nomination  and  election  as  a  Representative  in  Congress. 
On  this  event,  his  mother,  being  congratulated  by  her 
friend,  Mr.  Vanderkemp,  wrote  in  reply,  "  I  thank  you 
for  your  good  opinion  of  my  son  Edward's  election. 
If  high  and  virtuous  principles  joined  to  a  clear  head 
can  recommend  him  to  the  confidence  of  his  fellow-cit 
izens,  he  will  assuredly  enjoy  it." 


CHAPTER  V. 
SIX   YEARS    IN    CONGRESS. 

A  Political  Canvass  in  1794 — Eminent  Men  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  —  Andrew  Jackson  —  Address  to  the  President  —  Trials  of 
Randall  and  Whitney  —  Exertions  in  Behalf  of  American  Seamen—  De 
bates  on  Jay's  Treaty  —  Lafayette  at  Olmutz  —  Establishment  of  Naval 
Department  —  Alien  and  Sedition  Measures — Speech  against  the  Alien 
Bill  —  John  Marshall  —  Debate  on  the  Case  of  Jonathan  Robbins  — 
Early  Attention  of  Mr.  Livingston  to  the  Condition  of  Penal  Laws  —  Elec 
tion,  in  the  House,  of  Jefferson  to  the  Presidency. 

MR.  LIVINGSTON'S  election,  as  a  member  of  the 
fourth  Congress  of  the  United  States  for  the  city  of 
New  York,  took  place  in  December,  1794* ;  and  he  was 
reflected,  in  1796  and  1798,  to  the  two  following  Con 
gresses.  The  State  of  New  York  then  had  ten  members 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  the  city  of  New 
York  constituted  a  congressional  district.  In  the  first  of 
these  elections  John  Watts  was  his  competitor ;  in  the 
second,  James  Watson ;  and  his  own  kinsman,  Philip 
Livingston,  in  the  third.  The  contest  on  either  of  the 
first  two  of  these  occasions  was  not  a  very  polite  warfare. 

I.  Mr.  Watts  was  the  member  for  the  same  district  in 
the  third  Congress.  He  was  a  partisan  of  the  Adminis 
tration,  and  had  voted  industriously  to  sustain  all  its  meas 
ures.  He  was  of  good  family,  but  his  talents  were  not 
shining,  and  he  is  not  recorded  as  having  articulated 
anything  but  "  aye  "  and  "  no  "  during  his  congressional 
career.  His  friends  admitted  he  was  no  orator,  but 
claimed  that  he  was  all  the  better  voter  on  that  account ; 


62  LIFE    OF.  EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

while  they  gave  his  young  rival  credit  for  showy  parts, 
and  thence  argued  that  he  was  not  so  safe  a  legislator. 

The  machinery  for  the  nomination  of  candidates  was 
not  then  such  a  complicated  mystery  as  it  has  since  grown 
to  he.  Party  organization  in  this  country  was  not  yet  a 
science.  Regularity  came  to  be  understood  afterwards. 
There  was  no  Convention,  as  the  term  is  now  used ;  no 
delegates  with  credentials,  and  no  contested  seats.  But 
the  friends  of  each  candidate  met,  by  some  unrevealed 
arrangement,  at  a  tavern,  and,  placing  one  of  their  num 
ber  in  the  chair,  made  their  nomination  in  a  series  of 
resolutions  of  a  vague  character,  indicating  rather  a  per 
sonal  preference  than  definite  political  views.  In  chron 
icling  the  proceedings,  one  formula  served  both  parties. 
Each  report  stated,  that,  "  at  a  meeting  of  a  respectable 
number  of  citizens,  at  Hunter's  hotel,  on  "  such  an  even 
ing,  "  for  the  purpose  of  considering  of  a  proper  candi 
date  to  represent  this  district  in  the  next  Congress,  the 
following  resolutions  were  passed,"  etc.  The  newspapers 
printed  the  accounts  in  the  same  words,  and  left  their 
readers  to  learn,  by  further  investigation,  how  the  candi 
dates  differed  in  principles  and  party  associations. 

But  all  this  was  soon  made  clear  enough ;  for  tKough 
parties  were  not  yet  nominally  much  organized  or  defined, 
all  men  were  taking  sides  in  earnest  with  or  against  the 
administration,  and  the  terms  Federalist  and  Republican 
were  already  beginning  to  have  pretty  distinct  significa 
tions.  Livingston  was  a  Republican  in  nature,  in  opinion, 
and  in  associations.  Watts  was  a  Federalist,  and,  during 
the  canvass,  was  accused  by  his  opponents  of  having  been 
a  Tory  in  the  Revolution. 

Little  was  said  or  written  concerning  the  political  char 
acters  of  the  candidates,  but  much  was  said  and  written 
relating  to  their  private  characters.  An  anonymous  par- 


SIX    YEARS    IN    CONGRESS.  53 

tisan,  over  the  signature  of  "  Senex,"  made,  in  a  com 
munication  to  the  "  Daily  Advertiser,"  an  insidious  hut 
most  virulent  attack  upon  Livingston,  by  declaring  that 
the  character  of  Watts  was  unexceptionable ;  that  his 
property  had  not  been  reduced  by  extravagance,  nor 
swelled  by  extortion ;  and  that  he  possessed  the  merit 
of  not  being  a  pretended  bankrupt  nor  a  speculator. 
The  writer  begged  electors  to  beware  of  undue  admira 
tion  for  a  babbling  eloquence,  and  to  bear  in  mind  that 
the  tongue  of  Cicero,  the  discernment  of  Locke,  and 
the  fancy  of  Shakspeare,  blended  together,  if  accom 
panied  by  a  corrupt  and  wicked  heart,  only  furnish  the 
means  of  becoming  more  eminently  mischievous.  The 
tirade  was  wound  up  by  a  quotation  from  Cicero's  de 
nunciation  of  Catiline. 

Mr.  Livingston  published,  over  his  own  name,  a  digni 
fied  note  to  the  editor,  in  which  he  referred  to  the  commu 
nication  of  "Senex,"  and  to  oral  slanders  of  similar  but 
more  direct  import,  which  he  understood  were  passing 
from  mouth  to  mouth ;  and  informed  those  who  were  not 
personally  acquainted  with  him  that  he  had  suffered  some 
pecuniary  ill-luck  and  embarrassment,  but  that  he  had 
contrived  to  meet  all  his  obligations  honorably  and  prompt 
ly,  and,  especially,  that  he  had  never  settled  any  debt  for 
less  than  its  full  amount.  But  he  had  a  champion  of  less 
temper,  "A  Plebeian,"  who  published,  in  "Greenleaf's 
Journal,"  a  vehement  answer  to  "  Senex,"  accusing  him  of 
outrageous  malice  and  cowardice,  and  offering,  if  he  would 
divulge  his  real  name,  to  impart  to  him  an  impressive 
lesson  in  good  manners,  such  as,  in  "  A  Plebeian's  "  opin 
ion,  he  plainly  needed  and  richly  deserved. 

The  city  was  then  divided  into  seven  wards,  in  each  of 
which,  except  the  second  and  third,  Mr.  Livingston  led 
his  competitor  at;  the  election.  The  whole  number  of  bal- 


(34  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

lots  cast  was  3,481 ;  of  which  1,84«3,  or  a  majority  of 
205,  were  for  Livingston. 

The  new  memher  first  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  7tn  of  December, 
1795.  He  was  not  one  of  those  forward  orators  who 
make  half  a  dozen  speeches  on  the  day  of  their  first  ap 
pearance  in  a  legislative  body,  and  so  forfeit  all  hope  of 
influence  in  their  new  sphere ;  but,  though  entirely  con 
scious  of  his  powers,  he  was  rather  sparing  of  their  dis 
play,  and  acted  like  a  man  whose  aim  was  as  much  to 
save  a  reputation  as  to  gain  one.  The  first  time  he 
spoke,  in  proposing  an  important  motion  which  was  car 
ried,  he  declared  himself  such  a  novice  in  parliamentary 
proceedings  as  not  to  know  Avhether  he  was  in  order  or 
not. 

Of  course,  Mr.  Livingston  was  in  the  opposition, 
under  both  Washington  and  Adams  ;  but  his  tone  in  oppo 
sition  was  always  dignified  and  moderate,  which  is  more 
than  can  be  said  with  respect  to  that  of  his  party  at 
large  on  the  floor.  In  a  very  short  time,  he  had  acquired 
such  weight  in  the  House  as  has  not  often  attached  to 
so  young  a  member. 

The  most  notable  men  then  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  were  Fisher  Ames  and  Theodore  Sedgwick  of 
Massachusetts,  Albert  Gallatin  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Wil 
liam  B.  Giles  and  James  Madison  of  Virginia.  Andrew 
Jackson  was  a  representative  in  that  Congress  from  the 
woods  of  Tennessee,  —  the  first  and  then  sole  member 
from  that  State  ;  but  he  was  not  elected  till  the  autumn 
of  1796,  and  he  first  took  his  seat  on  the  5th  of  Decem 
ber  in  that  year,  it  being  the  first  day  of  the  second 
session. 

Early  in  each  session,  the  whole  House  in  a  body 
called  on  the  President,  and  presented  an  address  in  an- 


SIX    YEARS    IN    CONGRESS.  65 

swer  to  his  speech  at  the  opening  of  both  Houses.  On 
each  occasion,  Mr.  Livingston  thought  the  address  as 
prepared  was  too  undiscriminating  in  praise  of  the  Ad 
ministration,  and  he  was  in  favor  of  qualifying  the  ex 
pressions  accordingly.  The  last  time,  he  and  Jackson 
voted  together  in  a  small  minority  against  the  address 
as  it  was  carried. 

In  December,  179<5,  the  trials  of  Robert  Randall  and 
Charles  Whitney  before  the  bar  of  the  House  were 
commenced.  The  charge  was  a  breach  of  privilege  in 
attempting  to  bribe  members.  The  proceedings  occupied 
considerable  time,  and  brought  out  explanations  from 
a  large  number  of  Representatives,  which  showed  that 
Randall,  having  a  scheme  for  purchasing  from  the  Gov 
ernment,  at  a  nominal  price,  the  wilderness  which  has 
since  been  transformed  into  the  State  of  Michigan,  naive 
ly  supposed  that  the  best  as  well  as  most  direct  way  of 
achieving  his  purpose  was  to  take  in  a  clear  majority 
of  both  Houses  of  Congress  as  partners ;  and  he  accord 
ingly  broached  the  subject  to  quite  a  number  of  the  most 
influential  members  before  he  was  arrested.  After  he  was 
brought  to  the  bar,  a  committee  of  privileges,  consisting 
of  seven  members,  was  appointed,  and  instructed  to  con 
sider  and  report  the  proper  mode  of  proceeding.  Mr. 
Livingston  was  selected  as  one  of  the  committee.  The 
accused  were  allowed  to  appear  by  counsel,  and  the  accus 
ing  members  reduced  their  several  statements  to  the  form 
of  affidavits,  ajid  submitted  to  cross-examination.  Mr. 
Livingston  took  but  little  part  in  the  discussions  to  which 
the  case  gave  rise  ;  but  at  the  close  of  the  trial  of  the  prin 
cipal  offender  he  brought  in  two  resolutions,  —  the  first 
declaring  Randall  guilty,  and  the  second  directing  that  he 
should  be  called  up  to  the  bar,  reprimanded  by  the 
Speaker,  and  recommitted  until  the  further  order  of  the 
9 


66  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

House.     The  resolutions  were  adopted,  and  carried  into 
effect. 

The  case  against  Whitney  was  not  so  clear.  He  was 
interested  in  the  scheme,  but  in  the  business  of  opening 
the  project  to  members  of  Congress  had  been  either  more 
circumspect  or  more  indolent  than  Randall ;  so  that  the 
evidence  against  him  was  insufficient  to* convict  him,  and 
he  was,  by  resolution  of  the  House,  discharged.  Living 
ston  voted  for  the  discharge,  on  the  ground  of  a  want  of 
legal  evidence  upon  which  to  rest  a  conviction  of  the 
prisoner  ;  though  he  confessed  that  the  impression  on  his 
mind  was  that  both  Randall  and  Whitney  were  guilty. 
"  They  have  not  been  in  good  company,"  he  said.  "  I  do 
not  like  the  proposal  they  have  made  to  members  the 
better  because  it  originated  with  British  merchants. 
'  Timeo  Danaos  et  dona  ferentes*  I  dread  these  Britons 
and  the  gifts  they  bring." 

In  February,  1796,  the  young  member  originated  in 
the  House  a  measure  which  evinced  the  early  bent  of  his 
character  towards  active  philanthropy.  It  was  a  measure 
for  the  protection  of  American  seamen,  who  had  been 
extensively  impressed  into  the  service  of  foreign  powers, 
especially  that  of  England.  He  complained  eloquently 
of  the  apathy  of  the  Government  on  the  subject,  and  de 
clared  that  he  should  always  think  it  his  duty  to  strive 
to  obtain  for  this  ill-treated  body  of  men  some  relief.  He 
succeeded,  not  without  opposition,  in  procuring  a  refer 
ence  of  the  subject,  and,  afterwards,  the  passage  of  the 
act  of  May  28,  1796. 

While  the  report  of  the  committee  was  before  the 
House,  Mr.  Livingston  made  the  following  remarks, 
which  show  the  nature  of  the  opposition  he  met  with  in 
this  endeavor,  and  the  spirit  with  which  he  encountered 
it :  "  On  the  introduction  of  this  business  into  the  House, 


SIX    YEARS    IN    CONGRESS.  57 

it  was  said  that  a  young  member  had  thrown  obloquy  on 
the  Government.  I  uttered  nothing  but  facts.  I  said 
that  the  distressed  American  seamen  had  for  five  years 
looked  in  vain  for  relief.  The  Government  may  have  had 
prudential  reasons  for  its  conduct.  I  thought  it  time, 
however,  the  subject  was  attended  to.  It  is  true,  I  am 
young;  but  I  am  not  inattentive  to  the  public  business, 
and  I  shall  always  hold  it  my  duty  to  persevere  in  such 
measures  as  appear  to  me  calculated  to  promote  the 
public  good  ;  nor  shall  I  be  deterred  from  engaging  in 
a  business  because  it  may  not  have  been  attempted 
before,  for  that  principle  would  shut  out  all  improve 
ment." 

When  Livingston  had  been  three  months  in  his  seat, 
an  occasion  arose  for  the  display  of  his  powers.  The 
House  was  called  upon  to  make  the  appropriation  re 
quired  to  carry  into  effect  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain 
of  179^5  the  work  of  Mr.  Jay.  The  treaty  had  given 
rise  to  great  bitterness  and  excitement  in  Congress  and 
throughout  the  country.  In  the  House,  the  opposition 
was  all  but  sufficient  to  defeat  the  appropriation,  though 
the  amount  was  only  ninety  thousand  dollars.  The  dis 
cussions  there  occupied  the  best  part  of  March  and  April, 
1796.  They  were  divided  into  two  distinct  debates,  each 
consuming  about  a  month.  The  first  began  on  a  prelim 
inary  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  Livingston,  calling  on  the 
President  to  lay  before  the  House  a  copy  of  the  instruc 
tions  to  Mr.  Jay,  together  Avith  the  correspondence  and 
other  documents  relative  to  the  treaty,  excepting  such 
as  any  existing  negotiation  might  render  improper  to  be 
disclosed,  and  continued  after  that  resolution  had  passed 
and  the  President  had  refused  to  comply  with  it,  upon 
further  resolutions  brought  forward  by  Mr.  Blount  of 
North  Carolina,  protesting  against  the  refusal.  The 


68  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

second  was  upon  a  resolution  making  the  appropriation 
for  carrying  the  treaty  into  effect. 

These  two  debates  brought  out  all  the  intellect  and  all 

O 

the  eloquence  of  the  House.  Uncommon  refreshment  is 
to  be  found  in  turning  to  these  discussions  from  perusing 
the  usual  parliamentary  efforts  of  the  statesmen  of  our 
era.  A  large  number  of  orators,  whose  names  oblivion 
has  since  overcome,  vied  in  wisdom,  temper,  and  eloquence 
with  such  men  as  James  Madison,  William  B.  Giles, 
Theodore  Sedgwick,  and  Fisher  Ames.  The  celebrated 
Bostonian  delivered,  on  this  occasion,  what  is  known  as 
his  greatest  speech. 

The  steady  pertinence  of  all  that  was  said  on  the  floor 
to  the  exact  matter  before  the  House,  notwithstanding  the 
excitement  which  filled  the  atmosphere,  was  marvellous. 
In  the  course  of  thirty-two  speeches  there  was  not,  I 
believe,  one  departure  from  the  question.  It  was, 
throughout,  a  fine  clash  of  genuine  convictions  as  to 
the  relative  rights  and  obligations,  under  the  Constitution, 
of  two  principal  branches  of  the  Government. 

Mr.  Livingston  opened  the  debates  with  a  general 
statement  of  the  views  which  influenced  him  in  bringing 
forward  his  resolution.  He  desired  the  information,  to 
enable  the  House  to  take  whatever  action  might  seem  fit 
in  the  light  of  the  information  when  obtained.  If  it 
should  show  that  the  officers  who  had  negotiated  the 
treaty  ought  to  be  impeached,  then  their  impeachment 
would  turn  out  to  be  one  of  the  ultimate  objects  of  the 
call  for  papers.  Such  a  purpose  could  not  be  definitely 
declared  or  entertained  by  the  House  until  the  papers  were 
seen.  The  House,  as  the  accusing  organ  of  the  govern 
ment  and  guardian  on  every  occasion  of  the  country's 
rights,  was  entitled  to  the  information,  for  the  purpose 
of  elucidating  the  conduct  of  the  officers.  But  he  placed 


SIX    YEARS    IN    CONGRESS.  gg 

the  demand  mainly  upon  the  hroad  ground  that  the  House 
was  vested  with  a  discretionary  power  of  carrying  the 
treaty  into  effect  or  refusing  it  sanction. 

The  members  took  sides  at  once,  and  spoke  alternately, 
for  and  against  the  resolution,  from  the  7th  till  the  24th 
of  March.  Gallatin,  Madison,  and  Giles  were  among 
the  earliest  and  most  strenuous  supporters  of  the  resolu 
tion  ;  Sedgwick,  and  John  Williams  of  New  York,  were 
conspicuous  in  opposition  to  it.  All  these  and  several 
others  had  delivered  very  elaborate  arguments  upon  the 
question  before  Livingston  rose,  on  the  19th  of  March, 
to  make  his  principal  effort. 

The  delivery  of  this  speech  occupied  nearly  a  day, 
and  it  was  a  wonderful  performance  for  so  young  a  man 
and  a  statesman  so  inexperienced.  A  reader  of  all  that 
was  said  on  both  sides  of  the  question,  if  ignorant  of  the 
fame  of  any  of  the  orators,  would  pronounce  this  one 
to  be  the  Nestor  of  the  debate.  There  is  no  sign  of 
youthful  ambition  in  the  style  or  in  the  matter.  The 
fruits  of  earnest  research  and  reflection,  aided  by  a  wealth 
of  constitutional  and  historical  learning,  are  set  forth  by 
him  in  an  easy  diction,  and  in  a  wise  and  quiet  tone 
worthy  of  a  legislative  patriarch.  The  following  lively 
passage,  however,  exhibits  a  fine  and  rapid  blending  of 
argument,  eloquence,  humor,  and  dignity :  — 

"  Thus,  to  whatever  source  of  argument  we  refer,  we 
find  the  constitutional  power  of  this  House  fully  estab 
lished  ;  whether  we  recur  to  the  words  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  where  the  power  is  expressly  given  and  is  only  to 
be  lost  by  implication ;  whether  we  have  recourse  to  the 
opinions  of  the  majorities  who  adopted  the  Constitution, 
to  the  uniform  practice  under  it,  to  the  opinions  of  our 
constituents  as  expressed  in  their  petitions,  or  to  the 
analogous  proceedings  in  a  government  constructed,  in 


70  LIFE    OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

this  particular,  like  our  own.  Yet,  after  all  this,  we  are 
told  that  if  we  question  the  supremacy  of  the  treaty- 
making  power,  we  commit  treason  against  the  constituted 
authorities,  and  are  in  rebellion  against  the  government. 
These  are  grave  charges,  and  made  in  improper  language. 
I  have  not  been  so  long  in  public  life  as  those  gentle 
men  who  make  them,  but  I  will  boldly  pronounce  them 
unparliamentary  and  improper.  Besides,  this  language 
is  wrong  in  another  view  :  it  may  frighten  men  of  weak 
nerves  from  a  worthy  pursuit.  For  my  own  part,  when 
I  heard  the  member  from  Vermont  compare  the  authority 
of  the  President  and  Senate  to  the  majesty  of  Heaven, 
and  the  proclamation  to  the  voice  of  thunder;  when  he 
appealed  to  his  services  for  his  country,  and  showed  the 
wounds  received  in  her  defence  ;  when  he  completed  his 
pathetic  address  by  a  charge  of  treason  and  rebellion, 
I  was  for  a  moment  astonished  at  my  own  temerity ;  his 
eloquence  so  overpowered  me,  that 

'  Methought  the  billows  spoke  and  told  me  of  it, 
The  winds  did  sing  it  to  me,  and  the  thunder, 
That  deep  and  dreadful  organ-pipe,  pronounced ' 

the  charge  of  treason.  I  was,  however,  relieved  from 
this  trepidation  by  a  moment's  reflection,  which  convinced 
me  that  all  the  dreadful  consequences  arose  from  the 
gentleman's  taking  for  granted  that  which  remained  to 
be  proved.  He  had  only  assumed  that  the  measure  was 
unconstitutional,  and  the  rest  followed,  of  course.  From 
my  soul,  I  honor  the  veteran  who  has  fought  to  establish 
the  liberties  of  his  country.  I  look  with  reverence  on 
his  wounds,  I  feel  humbled  in  his  presence,  and  regret 
that  a  tender  age  did  not  permit  me  to  share  his  glorious 
deeds.  I  can  forgive  everything  that  such  a  man  may 
say,  when  he  imagines  the  liberty  for  which  he  has  fought 
is  about  to  be  destroyed ;  but  I  cannot  extend  my  charity 


SIX   YEARS    IN    CONGRESS.  Jl 

to  men  who,  without  the  same  merits,  coolly  reecho  the 
charge." 

The  drift  of  this  argument,  and  of  the  other  efforts 
on  the  same  side  of  the  question,  was  that  the  organic 
provision  that  u  the  Constitution,  the  laws  made  in  pur 
suance  thereof,  and  treaties  made  under  the  authority 
of  the  United  States  should  be  the  supreme  law  of  the 
land,"  was  intended  as  an  enumeration,  descriptive  of  the 
relative  force  of  Constitution,  laws,  and  treaties.  The 
first  in  authority  was  the  Constitution,  which  no  other 
act  could  operate  on.  The  second  in  order  were  the 
laws  made  in  pursuance  of  the  Constitution;  and  the  third 
were  treaties,  when  they  contravene  neither  the  Consti 
tution  nor  the  laws.  The  last  must  be  subordinate  to 
each  of  the  other  two,  as  would  be  reasonable,  or  else 
override  both,  as  would  be  absurd.  This  view  of  the 
subject  was  enforced  by  an  elaborate  examination  of  the 
nature  and  object  of  the  treaty-making  power,  and  its 
analogy  to  that  vested  in  the  Crown  by  the  British  con 
stitution,  under  which  several  instances  were  cited  of  the 
practice  of  Parliament,  by  virtue  of  its  general  legislative 
authority,  to  give  or  withhold  its  sanction  to  treaties 
concluded  by  the  King.  And  besides,  cases  were  adduced 
in  the  then  very  brief  history  of  our  own  government, 
in  which,  as  Mr.  Livingston  asserted,  the  discretion  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  over  the  subject  of  carry 
ing  treaties  into  effect  had  been  recognized  by  the  Presi 
dent,  acquiesced  in  by  the  Senate,  and  acted  upon  by  the 
House. 

The  question  was  taken  on  the  £4th  of  March,  when 
the  resolution  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  62  yeas  to  3J 
nays.  On  the  30th,  the  President  responded  to  the  call, 
in  a  courteous  message,  in  which  he  refused  to  com 
ply  with  the  resolution,  on  the  ground  that  to  admit  a 


72  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

right  in  the  House  to  make  such  a  demand  would  be 
the  establishment  of  a  dangerous  precedent.  Such  a 
right  he  distinctly  denied.  The  nature  of  foreign  ne 
gotiations,  always  requiring  caution  and  sometimes  de 
pending  on  secrecy  for  their  success,  and  the  inconvenient, 
dangerous,  or  mischievous  effect  which  publicity  might 
often  exert  on  future  as  well  as  on  unfinished  negotiations, 
had  made  necessary  the  express  provision  of  the  Consti 
tution,  vesting  the  treaty-making  power  in  the  President, 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate  only.  The 
message  declared  that  it  did  not  occur  to  the  President 
that  the  inspection  of  the  papers  asked  for  could  be 
relative  to  any  purpose  under  the  cognizance  of  the 
House  except  an  impeachment,  and  that  such  a  purpose 
the  resolution  failed  to  express.  The  grounds  of  the 
presidential  construction  of  the  clause  in  question  were 
set  forth  with  care  and  in  full  in  the  message,  which 
embodied  the  substantial  points  of  all  that  the  cham 
pions  of  the  Administration  had  said  in  the  House  in  the 
discussion  of  the  resolution. 

The  message  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  the  whole 
House.  After  several  days'  further  debating,  two  reso 
lutions  were  carried,  by  57  yeas  against  35  nays  :  the 
first  disclaiming  any  agency  in  the  making  of  treaties, 
but  insisting  that  it  is  the  right  and  duty  of  the  House 
to  deliberate  on  the  expediency  or  inexpediency  of  carry 
ing  into  effect  a  treaty  which  stipulates  regulations  on  any 
of  the  subjects  submitted  by  the  Constitution  to  the 
power  of  Congress,  and  depends  for  its  execution  on  a 
law  or  laws  to  be  passed  ;  the  second  declaring  that  it 
is  not  necessary  to  the  propriety  of  any  application  from 
the  House  to  the  Executive,  for  information  to  which  the 
House  is  entitled,  that  the  purpose  for  which  such  in 
formation  is  sought  should  be  stated  in  the  application. 


SIX   YEARS    IN    CONGRESS.  73 

Having  undertaken  to  define  its  rights  in  such  cases, 
the  House  proceeded  to  consider  whether  the  appropria 
tion  needed  to  carry  out  the  treaty  should  be  made. 
The  debate  which  followed  occupied  sixteen  days.  It  was 
in  it  that  Mr.  Ames  made,  in  favor  of  the  measure,  the 
finest  recorded  display  of  his  powers.  Madison,  Gallatin, 
and  Giles  labored  with  their  party  to  defeat  it.  Living 
ston  took  no  part  in  the  discussion,  but  voted  against 
the  appropriation,  which,  on  the  final  division,  was  carried 
by  the  nice  vote  of  51  yeas  against  48  nays. 

On  the  last  day  of  the  second  session,  March  3,  179?5 
a  resolution  was  brought  forward  in  the  House,  recom 
mending  some  kind  of  interposition  by  the  President  in 
behalf  of  Lafayette,  then  at  Olmutz.  Mr.  Livingston 
spoke  with  much  feeling  and  eloquence  in  support  of  the 
resolution,  which  was  nevertheless  lost,  only  twenty-five 
members  voting  for  it.  Washington  had  considered  the 
subject  of  official  exertion  towards  the  release  or  relief 
of  our  country's  noble  and  early  friend,  and  had  con 
cluded  that  such  exertion  would  be  inexpedient  and 
useless.  Unofficial  efforts  were  tried,  but  proved  vain  ; 
and  the  deliverance  of  the  illustrious  captive,  having 
been  denied  by  Austria  to  the  entreaty  of  Washington, 
was  finally  yielded  to  the  persuasion  of  Napoleon's 
arms. 

II.  The  second  election  of  Mr.  Livingston  to  Congress 
was  by  a  majority  of  550  votes,  the  seventh  ward  of 
the  city  having  been  transferred  to  the  Westchester 
district.  The  celebrated  De  Witt  Clinton  was  secretary 
of  the  meeting  at  which  the  nomination  was  made.  The 
canvass  was  more  spirited  than  the  former  one.  The 
candidate  had  earned,  or  at  least  now  incurred,  the 
bitter  and  active  opposition  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  who, 
10 


OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

during  the  three  days  of  the  election,  visited  the  several 
polls  for  the  purpose  of  influencing  electors  in  favor  of 
the  Federalist  candidate,  James  Watson.  Mr.  Hamilton 
was  accredited,  erroneously,  I  presume,  with  the  author 
ship  of  a  handbill  which  was  much  circulated  at  the 
polls,  and  which  set  forth  multitudinous  reasons  for  re 
turning  Mr.  Watson  in  Mr.  Livingston's  place,  —  one  of 
the  best  of  which  reasons  was  that  the  latter  had  so 
little  sympathy  with  the  people  as  to  drive  a  chariot. 
The  force  of  this  argument  was  impaired  by  the  retort 
in  the  Republican  journals  of  the  fact  that  Mr.  Watson 
drove  a  chariot  likewise.  Thus  it  was  Hobson's  choice 
with  the  electors,  so  far  as  the  chariot  question  was  con 
cerned.  The  other  considerations  which  were  urged  for 
and  against  the  candidates  being,  in  general,  less  im 
portant,  need  not  be  mentioned.  Mr.  James  Watson 
appears  to  have  been  an  enterprising  politician  who  held 
several  offices  in  both  State  and  nation,  and  once  got 
into  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  where  he  sat  from 
December,  1798,  until  March,  1800. 

The  commanding  position  in  which  Mr.  Livingston 
stood  before  the  public  at  this  period  is  illustrated  by 
the  remarks  of  a  distinguished  French  traveller,  who, 
describing  what  he  saw  at  New  York,  named,  under 
the  head  of  "  personages  who  deserve  particular  men 
tion,"  but  three  men,  —  Hamilton,  Burr,  and  Edward 
Livingston,  and  gave  to  the  last  the  most  extended  notice 
of  the  three,  styling  him  "  one  of  the  most  enlightened 
and  most  eloquent  members  of  Congress  in  the  party 
of  the  opposition."  * 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter,  written  in  Feb 
ruary,  1796,  by  Chancellor  Livingston  to  his  much 

*  Voyage  dans  les  Etats-Unis  d'  i797«  Par  La  Rochefoucauld-Lian- 
Ameriquc,  fan  en  1795,  1796,  et  court.  Tome  Septieme,  page  151. 


SIX   YEARS    IN   CONGRESS.  75 

younger  brother  Edward,  shows  how  affectionate  was 
the  desire  of  the  former  that  the  latter  should  not  only 
maintain  the  distinction  he  had  gained,  but  that  he  should 
earn  and  enjoy  additions  to  it :  — 

"  As  I  naturally  feel  myself  much  interested  in  your 
political  career,  I  cannot  but  entreat  you  to  consider 
that  you  are  at  this  moment  making  immense  sacrifices 
of  fortune  and  professional  reputation  by  remaining  in 
Congress.  Nothing  can  compensate  for  these  losses 
but  attaining  the  highest  political  distinction.  But, 
believe  me,  this  will  never  be  attained  without  the  most 
unwearied  application,  both  in  and  out  of  the  House. 
Read  everything  that  relates  to  the  state  of  your  laws, 
commerce,  and  finances.  Form  and  perfect  your  plans, 
so  as  to  bring  them  forward  in  the  best  shape.  Forgive, 
my  dear  brother,  both  my  freedom  and  my  style.  I 
write  from  my  heart,  not  from  my  head.  Be  persuaded 
that  no  extent  of  talent  will  avail,  without  a  considerable 
portion  of  industry,  to  make  a  distinguished  statesman." 

The  Naval  Department  of  the  government,  as  an 
offshoot  of  the  Department  of  War,  was  established  by 
law  in  April,  1798.  It  was  a  measure  of  the  Federalists 
and  the  Administration.  The  Republicans  opposed  the 
establishment,  and  Mr.  Livingston  spoke  and  voted  against 
it.  The  opposition  went  upon  grounds  of  economy  and 
simplicity,  in  keeping  the  management  of  both  army  and 
navy  under  one  head,  and  the  inexpediency  of  enlarging 
the  naval  defences.  The  bill  passed  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  by  a  narrow  majority. 

A  little  later  in  the  same  session,  the  two  notorious 
measures  of  the  Government,  known  as  the  Alien  and 
Sedition  laws,  were  brought  forward,  and  passed  by  a 
majority  in  the  House.  It  is  most  astonishing  that  Mr. 
Adams  and  his  friends  should  not  have  known  better  than 


76  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

to  believe  it  possible  to  establish  two  such  acts  under 
our  free  Constitution,  which  they  had  had  so  large  a  share 
in  framing.  The  Alien  bill  invested  the  President  with 
power  to  order  dangerous  or  suspected  aliens  to  depart 
out  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  ;  or,  in  case 
of  disobedience,  to  imprison  and  perpetually  exclude  from 
the  rights  of  citizenship  ;  or,  after  an  order  to  depart, 
to  grant  a  license  to  remain  for  such  time  as  the  Presi 
dent  should  deem  proper,  and  at  such  place  as  he  should 
designate.  The  Sedition  law  made  it  a  high  misde 
meanor,  punishable  with  fine  and  imprisonment,  to  com 
bine  with  intent  to  oppose  any  measures  of  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States,  or  to  traduce  or  defame 
the  Legislature  or  the  President,  by  declarations  tending 
to  criminate  the  motives  of  either.  Both  these  odious 
measures  were  passed  under  the  spur  of  party  disci 
pline.  Both  excited  at  once  the  bitterest  opposition  of 
the  Republican  party,  and  presently  incurred  the  hearty 
abomination  of  the  country.  Such  experiments  in  legis 
lation  are  not  likely  to  be  repeated  while  our  form  of 
government  lasts. 

Mr.  Livingston  achieved  national  fame  by  the  con 
spicuous  eloquence  and  vigor  of  his  opposition  to  these 
measures.  Having  been  absent  from  his  seat  for  some 
time,  and  returning  on  the  eve  of  the  passage  of  the 
Alien  bill,  he  delivered,  on  the  #lst  of  June,  1798?  a  ve 
hement  argument  against  it.  The  following  were  his 
opening  words :  — 

"  Mr.  Speaker  :  I  esteem  it  one  of  the  most  fortunate 
occurrences  of  my  life,  that,  after  an  inevitable  absence 
from  my  seat  in  this  House,  I  have  arrived  in  time  to 
express  my  dissent  to  the  passage  of  this  bill.  It  would 
have  been  a  source  of  eternal  regret  and  the  keenest 
remorse,  if  any  private  affairs,  any  domestic  concerns, 


SIX   YEARS    IN    CONGRESS.  <ff 

however  interesting,  had  deprived  me  of  the  opportunity 
I'  am  now  about  to  use,  of  stating  my  objections  and 
recording  my  vote  against  an  act  which  I  believe  to 
be  in  direct  violation  of  the  Constitution,  and  marked 
with  every  characteristic  of  the  most  odious  despotism." 

After  proceeding  to  prove  that  the  bill  was  not  only 
at  war  with  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  but  also  in 
plain  conflict  with  its  letter  in  several  particulars,  and 
after  showing  how  long  a  step  towards  despotism  would 
be  made  by  the  enactment  of  such  a  law,  he  predicted 
a  direct  resistance  by  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
and  declared  that  such  resistance  would  be  right,  —  an 
imprudent  utterance  which  drove  him,  under  a  pressure 
from  the  advocates  of  the  measure,  to  the  indefensible 
doctrine  that  the  people  are  themselves  the  rightful 
judges,  in  the  first  instance,  of  the  constitutionality  of 
acts  of  Congress.  The  ardor  of  his  convictions  upon 
the  vitally  important  subject  under  consideration  here 
carried  him  beyond  the  wisdom  and  moderation  habitual 
to  him,  even  at  this  early  age. 

This  entire  speech  well  merits  the  attention  of  every 
intelligent  American.  Its  length  precludes  its  insertion 
here,  and  it  is  difficult  to  present  extracts,  as  samples 
of  the  whole  performance.  It  was  characteristic  of  all 
Mr.  Livingston's  productions,  to  display  a  copious  and 
uniform  power  rather  than  any  salient  and  occasional 
beauties ;  not  irregular  and  brilliant  flashes,  but  a  fine 
and  steady  light.  Yet  I  cannot  refrain  from  quoting 
one  eloquent  passage,  including  the  indiscreet  sentiment 
to  which  allusion  has  been  made :  — 

"  But  if,  regardless  of  our  duties  as  citizens,  and  our 
solemn  obligations  as  representatives  ;  regardless  of  the 
rights  of  our  constituents  ;  regardless  of  every  sanction, 
human  and  divine,  we  are  ready  to  violate  the  Consti- 


78  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

tution  we  have  sworn  to  defend,  —  will  the  people  submit 
to  our  unauthorized  acts  I  will  the  States  sanction  our 
usurped  power  ?  Sir,  they  ought  not  to  submit ;  they 
would  deserve  the  chains  which  these  measures  are  for£- 

o 

ing  for  them,  if  they  did  not  resist.  For  let  no  man 
vainly  imagine  that  the  evil  is  to  stop  here  ;  that  a  few 
unprotected  aliens  only  are  to  be  affected  by  this  inquis 
itorial  power.  The  same  arguments  which  enforce  those 
provisions  against  aliens,  apply  with  equal  strength  to 
enacting  them  in  the  case  of  citizens.  The  citizen  has 
no  other  protection  for  his  personal  security,  that  I  know, 
against  laws  like  this,  than  the  humane  provisions  I  have 

cited   from    the   Constitution You    have  already 

been  told  of  plots  and  conspiracies  ;  and  all  the  frightful 
images  that  are  necessary  to  keep  up  the  present  system 
of  terror  and  alarm  have  been  presented  to  you ;  but 
who  are  implicated  in  these  dark  hints,  these  mys 
terious  allusions  ?  They  are  our  own  citizens,  Sir,  not 
aliens.  If  there  is  any  necessity  for  the  system  now 
proposed,  it  is  more  necessary  to  be  enforced  against 
our  own  citizens  than  against  strangers  ;  and  I  have  no 
doubt  that,  either  in  this  or  some  other  shape,  this  will 
be  attempted.  I  now  ask,  Sir,  whether  the  people  of 
America  are  prepared  for  this  I  Whether  they  are  willing 
to  part  with  all  the  means  which  the  wisdom  of  their 
ancestors  discovered  and  their  own  caution  so  lately 
adopted,  to  secure  their  own  persons  I  Whether  they  are 
willing  to  submit  to  imprisonment,  or  exile,  whenever 
suspicion,  calumny,  or  vengeance  shall  mark  them  for 
ruin  ?  Are  they  base  enough  to  be  prepared  for  this  ? 
No,  Sir,  they  will,  I  repeat  it,  they  will  resist  this 
tyrannical  system  ;  the  people  will  oppose,  the  States  will 
not  submit  to  its  operations  ;  they  ought  not  to  acquiesce, 
and  I  pray  to  God  they  never  may. 


SIX   YEARS    IN    CONGRESS.  79 

"  My  opinions,  Sir,  on  this  subject  are  explicit,  and 
I  wish  they  may  be  known.  They  are,  that,  whenever 
our  laws  manifestly  infringe  the  Constitution  under  which 
they  are  made,  the  people  ought  not  to  hesitate  which 
they  should  obey ;  if  we  exceed  our  powers,  we  become 
tyrants,  and  our  acts  have  no  effect.  Thus,  Sir,  one  of 
the  first  effects  of  measures  such  as  this,  if  they  be  ac 
quiesced  in,  will  be  disaffection  among  the  States,  and 
opposition  among  the  people  to  your  government ;  tu 
mults,  violations,  and  a  recurrence  to  first  revolutionary 
principles ;  if  they  are  submitted  to,  the  consequences 
will  be  worse.  After  such  manifest  violation  of  the 
principles  of  our  Constitution,  the  form  will  not  long  be 
sacred ;  presently  every  vestige  of  it  will  be  lost  and 
swallowed  up  in  the  gulf  of  despotism.  But  should  the 
evil  proceed  no  further  than  the  execution  of  the  present 
law,  what  a  fearful  picture  will  our  country  present ! 
The  system  of  espionage  thus  established,  the  country  will 
swarm  with  informers,  spies,  delators,  and  all  that  odious 
tribe  that  breed  in  the  sunshine  of  despotic  power  and 
suck  the  blood  of  the  unfortunate,  and  creep  into  the 
bosom  of  sleeping  innocence,  only  to  awaken  it  with  a 
burning  wound.  The  hours  of  the  most  unsuspecting  con 
fidence,  the  intimacies  of  friendship,  or  the  recesses  of 
domestic  retirement,  afford  no  security  ;  the  companion 
whom  you  must  trust,  the  friend  in  whom  you  must 
confide,  the  domestic  who  waits  in  your  chamber,  are 
all  tempted  to  betray  your  imprudence  and  guardless 
follies,  to  misrepresent  your  words,  to  convey  them,  dis 
torted  by  calumny,  to  the  secret  tribunal  where  Jealousy 
presides,  where  Fear  officiates  as  accuser,  and  where  sus 
picion  is  the  only  evidence  that  is  heard." 

This  speech  produced  a  thrilling  effect  upon  the  pop 
ular   mind    of  the   nation.      It   was    printed   upon   satin, 


80  LIFE    OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

and  reached  all  classes.  The  author  was  deluged  with 
petitions  from  the  several  States  for  a  repeal  of  the  law, 
to  be  presented  at  the  next  session.  The  repeal  was 
refused  by  Congress,  but  both  the  Alien  and  Sedition 
laws  expired  by  their  own  limitation  :  the  former  two 
years  from  its  passage,  the  latter  on  the  last  day  of  Mr. 
Adams's  term  of  office. 

On  the  5th  of  July,  while  the  Sedition  Act  was  under 
consideration  in  the  House,  Mr.  Livingston  moved  to 
reject  the  bill  without  a  second  reading.  On  this  occa 
sion  he  delivered  a  speech  in  favor  of  freedom  for  speech 
and  for  the  press,  which  was  characterized  by  an  orator 
on  the  other  side  as  bold  and  violent,  and  as  calculated 
to  awaken,  in  well-regulated  minds,  emotions  of  fear  and 
horror.  A  Federalist  member  from  Connecticut  shud 
dered,  and  felt  the  blood  freeze  in  his  veins,  when  he 
contemplated  the  probable  effects  of  "  the  liberty  of 
vomiting  on  the  public  floods  of  falsehood  to  everything 
sacred,  human  and  divine."  "  If  any  man,"  he  exclaimed, 
"  doubts  the  effects  of  such  a  liberty,  let  me  direct  his 
attention  across  the  water  ;  it  has  there  made  slaves  of 
thirty  millions  of  men."  But  the  boldness  and  violence 
of  language  thus  denounced,  led  and  settled  the  per 
manent  public  opinion  of  the  country  with  reference  to 
freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press. 

In  January,  1798,  Mr.  Livingston  carried  through 
Congress  a  measure  for  the  payment  of  an  annuity  to 
each  of  the  four  orphaned  daughters  of  the  Count  de 
Grasse,  though  the  gratitude  thus  expressed  by  the  rep 
resentatives  of  the  nation  was  not  quite  as  liberal  as 
he  desired  and  urged.  The  sum  devoted  to  this  object 
was  four  hundred  dollars  to  each  of  the  ladies  annually, 
for  five  years,  —  a  thrifty  acquittance  of  such  a  debt  as 
was  thus  acknowledged. 


SIX   YEARS    IN  CONGRESS.  %{ 

III.  Mr.  Livingston's  third  election  to  Congress  oc 
curred  in  April,  17(J8,  two  months  before  he  had  made 
his  powerful  and  most  popular  demonstrations  against 
the  Alien  and  Sedition  bills.  Had  it  been  otherwise,  no 
opponent  could  have  taken  the  field  against  him  with 
any  chance  of  success.  As  it  was,  the  canvass  was 
tame  in  comparison  with  the  two  preceding  ones,  His 
majority  was  only  175  votes. 

It  was  in  the  sixth  Congress,  and  in  December,  1799? 
that  John  Marshall  first  appeared  as  a  member  of  the 
House,  and  took  at  once  the  leadership  of  the  Govern 
ment's  side.  In  March  following,  he  delivered  the 
most  renowned  of  all  his  public  speeches,  in  a  debate 
set  on  foot  by  Mr.  Livingston.  The  question  was  on 
the  conduct  of  the  President,  Mr.  Adams,  in  the  case 
of  Thomas  Nash,  alias  Jonathan  Robbins.  That  person, 
having  committed  a  murder  on  board  a  British  frigate 
on  the  high  seas,  and  having  escaped  to  this  country, 
had  been  arrested  and  committed  for  trial  under  the 
laws  of  the  United  States,  in  the  Federal  court  for  the 
District  of  South  Carolina.  The  British  government 
demanded  his  extradition,  under  the  provisions  of  the 
&7th  section  of  Jay's  treaty.  He  was  surrendered,  tried 
by  an  English  court,  convicted,  and  executed.  Mr. 
Adams  had  officially  taken  an  active  part  in  the  business 
of  the  extradition,  by  writing  to  the  judge  of  the  court 
in  South  Carolina  to  the  effect,  that,  in  the  President's 
opinion,  "  an  offence  committed  on  board  a  public  ship  of 
war,  on  the  high  seas,  is  committed  within  the  juris 
diction  of  the  ifation  to  whom  the  ship  belongs,"  for 
which  reason  the  judge  was  advised  and  requested  to 
deliver  up  the  prisoner  to  the  agent  of  Great  Britain, 
provided  only  the  proper  evidence  of  his  criminality 
should  be  produced.  Robbins  had  claimed  to  be  an 
11 


82  LIFE   OF    EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

American  citizen,  and  to  have  been  impressed  on  board 
the  British  vessel. 

Here  was  matter  enough  for  a  great  deal  of  honest 
and  bitter  controversy.  The  odium  which  had  origi 
nally  attached  to  the  treaty  in  the  minds  of  a  portion 
of  the  people  was  revived  and  aggravated  by  the  circum 
stance  just  referred  to.  The  fury  of  the  Republican  op 
position  found  mild  expression  in  a  series  of  resolutions, 
offered  by  Mr.  Livingston,  declaring,  in  substance,  that 
the  several  questions  involved  in  the  case  were  matters 
exclusively  of  judicial  inquiry ;  that  the  decision  of  those 
questions  by  the  President  was  a  dangerous  interference 
of  the  Executive  with  judicial  decisions ;  and  that  the 
compliance  of  the  judge  in  this  case  was  a  sacrifice  of 
the  constitutional  independence  of  the  judicial  power,  and 
exposed  the  administration  of  the  latter  to  suspicion  and 
reproach. 

To  a  young  Republican  orator  the  temptation  was 
strong  to  make  the  most  of  the  circumstance  of  Robbins's 
claim  of  citizenship,  in  order  to  deal  a  severe  blow  upon 
the  popularity  of  the  administration.  But  to  that  temp 
tation  Mr.  Livingston  did  not  yield.  He  declared  his 
belief  that  Robbins  was  an  Irishman,  and  that  he  was 
guilty  of  the  crime  with  which  he  was  charged.  In  his 
view,  by  that  admission  he  did  riot  at  all  surrender 
the  point  of  his  resolutions,  the  design  of  which  was  to 
try  the  naked  question  of  the  right  of  the  Executive  to 
interfere  in  the  least  with  the  Judiciary  in  the  exercise 
of  its  functions  in  a  case  of  extradition  under  a  treaty, 
when  the  subject  of  it  is  in  custody.  *  The  argument 
of  Mr.  Marshall  was  largely  addressed  to  the  task  of 
answering  specifically  the  several  positions  advanced  by 
Mr.  Livingston.  It  was  a  gigantic  vindication  of  the 
President,  and  of  the  exclusive  right  of  the  Executive 


SIX   YEARS    IN  CONGRESS.  §3 

to  decide  such  a  question  ;  and,  as  an  argument,  fully 
merited  all  the  fame  it  brought  to  its  author.  It  will 
be  found  one  of  the  most  wonderful  of  all  recorded  dis 
plays  of  the  power  of  exhaustive  analysis,  terse  statement, 
and  compact  reasoning.  But  it  is  a  task  beyond  the 
power  of  any  talents  to  satisfy  a  mind  unbiased,  en 
lightened,  and  accustomed  to  the  true  definitions  and 
boundaries  of  judicial  and  executive  functions  in  a  free 
government,  that  the  President  can  properly  exert  an 
official  influence  upon  any  judicial  order  whatever.  Nev 
ertheless,  the  resolutions  were  defeated  by  a  vote  of 
35  to  61. 

Only  a  few  days  after  Mr.  Livingston  had  first  taken 
his  seat  in  Congress,  he  offered  a  resolution  that  a  com 
mittee  be  appointed  "  to  inquire  and  report  whether  any 
and  what  alterations  should  be  made  in  the  penal  laws 
of  the  United  States,  by  substituting  milder  punishments 
for  certain  crimes,  for  which  infamous  and  capital  pun 
ishments  are  now  inflicted."  The  committee  was  ap 
pointed,  and  he  was  made  its  chairman.  Later  in  the 
same  month,  he  offered  a  second  resolution,  which  was 
carried,  requesting  the  President  to  obtain,  for  the 
information  of  Congress,  detailed  statements  respect 
ing  the  trials  and  convictions  which  had  taken  place 
under  the  existing  laws.  This  information  was  not 
furnished.  A  year  afterwards,  Mr.  Livingston  moved 
for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  "  to  inquire  and 
report  whether  any  and  what  alterations  are  necessary 
in  the  penal  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  that  they 
report  by  bill  or  otherwise."  The  motion  prevailed, 
and  he  was  appointed  chairman  of  the  new  commit 
tee.  I  do  not  find  that  the  latter  ever  made  any 
report,  and  the  matter  is  only  mentioned  here  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  how  early  the  general  subject  of 


84  LIFE  OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

the  Livingston  Code  had  engaged  the  attention  of  its 
author. 

Mr.  Livingston  was  not  a  candidate  for  reelection  to 
the  seventh  Congress,  and  was  succeeded  in  his  seat  by 
the  celebrated  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchill.  The  close  of 
this  his  first  congressional  career  was  signalized  by 
the  election  of  Mr.  Jefferson  to  the  Presidency  of  the 
United  States  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  The 
electoral  votes,  when  counted,  were  found  to  be,  J3  for 
Mr.  Jefferson,  7 3  for  Mr.  Burr,  65  for  Mr.  Adams, 
64  for  Mr.  Pinckney,  and  1  for  Mr.  Jay.  Thus  the 
election  devolved,  by  the  Constitution,  on  the  House,  and 
the  choice  for  both  President  and  Vice-President  was 
reduced  to  Jefferson  and  Burr  ;  for,  on  the  election  of 
either,  in  the  circumstances  stated,  to  the  first  office,  the 
second  would,  by  the  Constitution,  immediately  attach 
to  the  other.  Between  the  two  the  destiny  of  the  coun 
try  hung  through  seven  days  and  thirty-six  ballotings. 
There  were  then  sixteen  States.  A  majority  of  the  Rep 
resentatives  from  each  State  determined  its  vote.  A  ma 
jority  of  the  States  was  necessary  to  an  election.  The 
votes  of  nine  States  were  therefore  required  to  effect 
that  result. 

Thirty-five  ballotings  ended  alike,  showing  eight  States 
in  favor  of  Jefferson,  six  for  Burr,  and  two  equally 
divided.  On  the  thirty-sixth  balloting,  Jefferson  was 
found  to  have  received  the  votes  of  ten  States,  while  four 
adhered  to  Burr  and  two  cast  blank  ballots.  Mr.  Jef 
ferson's  election  was  thereupon  declared,  and  Mr.  Burr, 
by  law,  became  Vice-President. 

This  crisis,  in  which  a  few  bold  politicians  came  very 
near  overruling  the  well-known  intention  of  a  majority 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  for  the  time 
setting  the  fundamental  principles  of  our  government  at 


SIX   YEARS    IN   CONGRESS.  85 

nought,  grew  out  of  a  clumsy  provision  in  the  Consti 
tution.  Then,  as  now,  the  vote  of  the  people  in  each 
State  was  for  a  set  of  electors  of  the  same  number  as 
the  Representatives  to  which  the  State  was  entitled  ;  and 
the  electors  thus  chosen  in  all  the  States  afterwards  met, 
in  electoral  college,  to  ballot  for  President  and  Vice- 
President.  But  the  provision  referred  to  required  each 
member  of  the  electoral  college  to  ballot  simply  for  two 
persons,  without  indicating  the  office  for  which  either 
was  designed.  Of  course,  this  mode  of  balloting  would 
always  result  in  a  tie  between  the  two  candidates  of 
the  successful  party  for  the  higher  and  the  lower  office, 
unless  there  should  be  an  arrangement  by  the  party  in 
the  electoral  college,  by  which  some  one  at  least  of  the 
electors  should  cast  a  blank  ballot,  or  one  in  favor  of  a 
name  not  really  in  the  canvass,  as  was  done  by  the  Fed 
eralists,  in  this  instance,  by  transferring  a  single  ballot 
to  Mr.  Jay.  How  such  an  arrangement  came  to  be 
omitted  by  the  Republicans  is  matter  of  some  mystery. 
Burr  and  his  friends  had  certainly  anticipated  such  a 
result ;  and  they  had  probably  brought  it  about  by  some 
subtle  but  active  means  which  cannot  now  be  explained. 
At  all  events,  they  were  on  the  lookout  the  moment 
the  mischance  became  known,  and  wrere  not  long  in 
perfecting  a  league  with  the  Federalist  leaders  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  who,  when  the  time  of  the  elec 
tion  came,  made  a  sturdy  attempt,  under  the  leadership 
of  Mr.  Bayard,  the  sole  representative  of  Delaware, 
to  elevate  Burr  over  Jefferson,  as  a  choice  between  po 
litical  evils.  The  attempt  was  persevered  in  until  its 
success  was  demonstrated  to  be  hopeless,  and  a  choice 
became  imminent  between  a  government  with  Jefferson 
at  the  head  and  no  government  at  all.  Then,  the  elec 
tion  wras  yielded,  not  graciously,  to  Jefferson. 


86  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

During  this  contest,  of  which  not  all  the  details  are 
pertinent  to  my  task,  Mr.  Jefferson  steadily  received 
the  vote  of  New  York.  This  was  done  by  a  majority 
of  two  in  the  delegation,  six  members  voting  for  Jef 
ferson  and  four  for  Burr.  Of  course,  a  tie,  and  a  loss 
of  the  State's  vote  would  have  been  produced  by  the 
going  over  from  the  former  to  the  latter  of  a  single  mem 
ber.  A  loss  of  the  vote  of  New  York,  though  it  would 
not  on  the  final  balloting  have  been  fatal  to  Jefferson's 
election,  would  have  been  likely,  if  occurring  at  an  ear 
lier  stage  of  the  controversy,  to  have  that  effect.*  Liv 
ingston  was  one  of  the  six  constant  adherents  of  Jeffer 
son,  and  thus  held,  in  the  contest,  a  balance  of  influence 
which  he  might  have  wielded  in  the  interest  of  Burr, 
of  his  own  State  and  city,  writh  whom  his  relations,  pro 
fessional,  political,  and  personal,  of  many  years'  standing, 
had  till  then  been  intimate. 

Under  these  circumstances,  he  appears  to  have  been 
marked  by  Burr  as  a  subject  for  cautious  temptation. 
Judge  Van  Ness  wrote  to  him  from  Albany  that  "  it  was 
the  sense  of  the  Republican  party  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  that,  after  some  trials  in  the  House,  Mr.  Jefferson 
should  be  given  up  for  Mr.  Burr."  Bayard,  while  the 
indeterminate  balloting  in  the  House  was  going  on,  ap 
proached  Livingston,  —  or,  to  employ  his  own  language, 
took  occasion  to  sound  him, — and  stated  that  he  had  un 
derstood  the  latter  was  the  confidential  friend  and  agent 
of  Mr.  Burr,  and  was  ready  to  cooperate  at  an  appro 
priate  opportunity  in  his  election.  Livingston's  answer, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  Bayard,  subsequently  given 

*  I  find   no  ground    for  believing  atives  to  persevere  in  what  they  did 

that  the  requisite   nine   States   could  gravely  contemplate,  the  holding  out 

have   been  secured    for  Burr  in  any  until   the   4th    of  March,    and   thus 

event;  but  a  defection  of  New  York  preventing  any    constitutional   elec- 

from  Jefferson  might  very  well  have  tion  whatever, 
influenced  the  Federalist   Represent- 


SIX   YEARS    IN    CONGRESS.  gy 

on  oath  in  a  court  of  justice,  was  a  very  distinct  but 
rather  dry  denial  of  any  such  agency  or  design,  leaving 
on  Bayard's  mind  an  impression  that  he  felt  no  zeal  in 
Jefferson's  behalf,  but  that  he  would  not  give  his  ballot 
to  Burr  in  any  event.  What  notice,  if  any,  he  took  of 
Van  Ness's  letter,  does  not  appear.  The  secret  diary  of 
Jefferson  shows  that  his  relations  with  the  latter  during 
the  struggle  were  of  the  most  confidential  character,  and 
that  the  attempt  upon  him  by  Burr  and  his  satellites 
did  not  receive  sufficient  encouragement  to  take  distinct 
shape. 

Besides  the  State  of  New  York,  whose  suffrage 
would  have  been  recorded  for  Burr  if  two  of  its  Re 
publican  Representatives  had  given  him  their  ballots, 
there  were  four  States  —  Vermont,  Maryland,  Tennessee, 
and  Georgia  —  either  of  which  would  have  been  secured 
for  him  by  a  like  change  of  a  single  ballot.  Any  three 
of  these  five,  if  thus  won  over,  would  have  made  up  the 
nine  States  required  to  effect  his  election.  What  three 
States  so  needed  were  those  which  the  Machiavelian 
chief  and  his  confederates  most  definitely  counted  upon 
being  able  to  swerve  about  "  after  some  trials "  is  not 
quite  clear.  There  is  no  good  evidence  that  the  hope 
of  gaining  over  any  of  the  five  was  reasonably  conceived. 
None  of  them  wavered  visibly  during  the  thirty-five  in 
decisive  ballotings ;  and  on  the  thirty-sixth,  the  Federalists, 
in  despair,  decided,  —  not  to  lend  a  single  voice  to  Jef 
ferson,  besides  that  of  Mr.  Huger  of  South  Carolina, 
who  had  from  the  first  kept  aloof  from  the  action  of  his 
party  in  the  House,  but  to  cast  blank  ballots  instead  of 
those  which  till  then  had  been  thrown  for  Burr  in  the 
equally  divided  and  therefore  neutralized  votes  of  Ver 
mont  and  Maryland.  These  two  States  were  in  this  way 


88  LIFE    OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

added  to  those  which  had  all  the  while  adhered  to  Jef 
ferson,  and  the  struggle  was  over.  Burr  from  this 
moment  started  upon  that  tedious  career  of  infamy, 
whose  downward  course  the  killing  of  Hamilton  so  im 
pressively  precipitated. 


CHAPTER    VI. 
OFFICES    AND    MISFORTUNES. 

Approaching  Change  in  Mr.  Livingston's  Career —  Death  of  his  Wife  — 
Appointment  as  Attorney  of  the  United  States,  and  as  Mayor  of  New  York 
—  Variety  of  Functions  —  Germ  of  the  Livingston  Code  —  Manners  and 
Tastes  —  Conduct  during  the  Prevalence  of  Yellow-Fever  in  the  City  — 
The  incurring  of  a  Debt  to  the  Government — Circumstances  of  the  Af 
fair —  Conduct  in  that  Difficulty  —  Resignation  of  Offices  —  Honors  there 
upon  received  —  The  Purchase  of  Louisiana  —  Letter  from  Lafayette  — 
Departure  for  New  Orleans. 

WE  come,  now,  to  the  middle  period  of  Livingston's 
life,  —  a  period  of  protracted  trials,  vicissitudes, 
and  storms.  The  manner  in  which  he  bore  himself 
under  long  accumulating  misfortunes,  and  triumphantly 
rid  himself  of  the  burden  at  last,  is  what  will  lend  to 
the  narration  its  highest  interest. 

The  same  month  in  which  he  retired  from  Congress, 
and  from  the  scenes  which  attended  the  election  of  Jef 
ferson,  he  sustained  the  first  *  of  a  series  of  domestic 
afflictions,  destined  in  all  their  circumstances  to  try  to  its 
utmost  the  strength  of  his  philosophy.  Of  this  bereave 
ment,  caused  by  scarlet-fever,  he  afterwards  made  in 
his  Bible  the  following  record :  "  On  the  13th  of  March, 
1801,  it  pleased  Heaven  to  dissolve  an  union  which  for 
thirteen  years  it  had  blessed  with  its  own  harmony,  with 
an  uninterrupted  felicity  rarely  to  be  met  with  ;  formed 
by  mutual  inclination  in  the  spring  of  life,  it  was  ce 
mented  by  mutual  esteem  in  its  progress,  and  was  ter- 

*  The  first  except  the  death  of     ly,  at  an  advanced  age,  in  July  of 
his  mother,  which  occurred  sudden-     the  preceding  year. 
12 


90  LIFE   OF  EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

minated  by  a  stroke  as  sudden  as  it  was  afflictive." 
They  had  had  three  children,  Charles  Edward,  Julia 
Eliza  Montgomery,  and  Lewis,  born  respectively  in  1790, 
1794,  and  1798,  and  these  all  survived  to  him. 

A  few  days  after  sustaining  this  blow,  and  while  his 
grief  was  yet  in  its  sharpest  stage,  he  received  from 
Mr.  Jefferson  a  commission  appointing  him  to  the  office 
of  Attorney  of  the  United  States  for  the  District  of 
New  York,  then  comprising  the  whole  State,  in  place  of 
Richard  Harrison,  removed.  This  was  an  acceptable 
office,  because  it  was  honorable  and  profitable,  while  its 
functions  were  in  the  line  of  his  profession,  the  labors 
of  which  he  had  determined  actively  to  resume. 

At  the  same  time  a  movement  had  been  on  foot  for 
several  months  in  the  Republican  party  in  the  city  and 
at  Albany  for  the  removal  of  Richard  Varick  from  the 
office  of  Mayor  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  the  ap 
pointment  of  a  Republican  in  his  stead.  The  only  dif 
ficulty  was  to  unite,  upon  an  individual,  the  elements 
which  composed  the  Council  of  Appointment  sitting  at 
Albany,  as  influenced  by  the  Republican  members  of  the 
legislature.  This  was  done  in  August  following;  and 
Edward  Livingston  was  then  named  for  the  place  without 
a  dissenting  voice  in  the  council.  On  the  £4th  of  the 
month  he  was  formally  installed  in  the  office. 

The  mayoralty  of  New  York  was  then  esteemed  to 
be,  and  was  in  fact,  a  post  of  great  dignity  and  impor 
tance.  The  celebrated  De  Witt  Clinton,  in  order  to 
accept  it,  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States.  Since  the  close  of  the  war,  the  population  had 
grown  from  twenty  thousand  to  upwards  of  fifty  thou 
sand,  and  the  rate  and  prospect  of  increase  continued. 
All  the  municipal  offices  of  the  city  were  respectable. 
The  Mayor  presided  over  the  deliberations  of  the  common 


*% 

'V    OP> 


OFFICES    AND    MISFORTUNES. 


/*        Ql 

council,  and,  superadded  to  all  his  executive 
he  was,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the  presiding  judge 
of  a  high  court  of  record,  possessing  both  civil  and 
criminal  jurisdiction.  The  emoluments  of  the  place  were 
in  the  form  of  liberal  fees  and  perquisites  ;  and  a  few 
years'  incumbency,  carefully  managed,  was  equivalent  to 
a  handsome  competence. 

The  holding  of  two  such  offices  at  the  same  time,  — 
the  one  under  the  Federal,  the  other  from  the  State  gov 
ernment,  —  which  would  not  now  be  thought  compatible, 
excited  no  cavil  then  ;  and  both  these  appointments,  being 
for  short  terms  at  first,  were  renewed  the  next  winter. 

Party  spirit  had  at  that  time  acquired  a  good  deal 
of  earnestness  in  both  city  and  State.  A  public  dinner 
was  given  to  Mr.  Varick  by  the  Federalist  lawyers, 
at  which  a  rather  warm  dissatisfaction  on  the  subject  of 
his  removal  was  expressed.  Toasts  were  drunk,  twenty- 
five  in  number,  which,  if  read  now,  have  a  labored,  ob 
scure,  and  pedantic  sound  ;  and  their  political  bitterness, 
though  not  very  outspoken,  is  more  apparent  than  their 
pointedness. 

Thus  Livingston,  at  the  age  of  thirty-seven,  after  a 
distinguished  as  well  as  a  smooth  and  happy  career, 
found  himself  still  borne  forward  upon  a  tide  of  pros 
perity,  reputation,  and  influence.  From  this  point  the 
reader  will  obtain  more  frequent  as  well  as  more  distinct 
impressions  of  the  personal  habits  and  qualities  of  an 
extraordinary  man  :  a  marvellous  industry  which  would 
have  soon  destroyed  any  but  the  soundest  constitution, 
and  which  enabled  him,  in  the  midst  of  every-day  avo 
cations  and  cares,  to  accomplish  a  work  pronounced  by  a 
French  publicist  to  be  "  without  example  from  the  hand 
of  any  one  man  ;  "  a  steady  philanthropy  which  was 
his  chief  incentive  ;  an  equal  aptitude  for  affairs,  society, 


92  LIFE  OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

or  study ;  a  peculiar  simplicity  of  heart  joined  to  unsur 
passed  intellectual  acumen  ;  an  extreme  gentleness  grafted 
upon  unconquerable  energy ;  and  a  temper  after  child 
hood  never  once  overset. 

He  did  not  rest  for  a  moment  in  the  possession  of 
his  new  dignities,  but  devoted  his  whole  energy  to  the 
duties  which  they  imposed.  We  presently  find  him  pre 
siding  on  important  capital  trials,  where  his  charges 
to  juries  are  described  by  the  journals  of  the  time  as 
extraordinarily  impressive.  But  he  made  no  discrimi 
nation  between  these  conspicuous  functions  and  those 
useful  labors  which  are  performed  out  of  the  public  view. 
He  at  once  undertook  a  reformation  of  the  rules  and 
practice  of  the  court  in  civil  actions,  and  soon  com 
menced  the  preparation  of  a  volume*  of  reports  of  such 
of  his  own  and  the  recorder's  decisions  as  he  thought 
should  be  generally  known  to  the  bar.  This  was  before 
any  regular  reporting  of  the  judgments  of  either  the 
city  or  State  courts  had  been  undertaken,  and  when  but 
a  single  volume  of  reports  —  that  of  Colman's  Cases 
—  had  appeared. 

A  greater  variety  of  functions  could  hardly  be  heaped 
upon  the  hands  of  one  man.  The  president  of  a  court 
of  justice  and  of  a  deliberative  body,  he  must  appear 
as  an  advocate  in  all  causes  of  importance  in  his  district 
in  which  the  Federal  Government  was  interested,  and, 
in  turn,  superintend  the  administration  of  multifarious 
municipal  affairs,  from  the  regulation  of  finance  to  the 
assize  of  bread.  The  strides  which  the  town  was  then 
making  towards  its  present  metropolitan  proportions  are 
well  indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  city-hall,  at  that  time 

*  Judicial  Opinions,  delivered  in  New  York  :    Printed  and   published 

the    Mayors  Court    of   the   City    of  by  D.  Longworth,  at  the  Shakspeare 

Neiv  York  in  the  year  1802.      Forsi-  Gallery  near  the  Theatre,  1803. 
tan  et  haec  olim  meminisse  juvabit. 


OFFICES    AND    MISFORTUNES.  93 

projected  and  commenced, — though  it  long  since  ceased 
to  be  adequate  to  the  purposes  of  its  construction, — was 
at  first  magnificent  in  view  of  its  required  uses,  as  well 
as  by  the.  fact  that  the  dark-colored  stone  employed  in 
the  construction  of  its  rear  or  northern  wall  was  used 
instead  of  the  marble  of  the  three  other  sides,  for  the 
reason  that  that  wall  would  be  out  of  sight  of  all  the 
world.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  by  the  Mayor  with 
appropriate  ceremonies,  in  1 803. 

The  Mayor  was  required,  by  the  custom  of  the  period, 
to  devote  to  the  public  and  private  entertainment  of  dis 
tinguished  strangers  a  degree  of  attention  which  the 
growth  of  the  city  and  of  the  world's  travel  afterwards 
rendered  impossible.  For  this  duty  Mr.  Livingston  was 
eminently  fitted,  and  he  discharged  it  with  conscientious 
ness  and  pleasure.  His  residence  was  at  No.  1  Broad 
way,  the  windows  overlooking  the  Battery.  The  large 
trees  upon  this  common  were  planted  during  his  admin 
istration  and  under  his  direction. 

An  ordinary  man  would  have  found  enough  to  occupy 
all  his  faculties  and  desires  in  the  labors,  the  eclat,  and 
the  profits  of  these  offices.  But  Livingston,  whose  mind, 
as  we  have  seen,  at  school  and  college  had  strayed  in 
fields  of  poetry  and  philosophy  ;  who  during  the  early 
and  successful  practice  of  his  profession  had  found  leisure 
for  the  prosecution  of  varied  liberal  studies ;  and  who 
as  a  legislator  had  planned  and  laboriously  matured  com 
prehensive  measures  of  mere  humanity,  now,  in  the 
midst  and  whirl  of  these  occupations,  conceived  and  first 
publicly  broached  an  original  project  which  appears  to 
have  been  the  germ  of  that  great  scheme  of  philan 
thropy  to  the  perfecting  of  which  he  was  yet  to  devote 
his  best  energies  for  many  years.  In  a  communication 
to  the  Mechanic  Society  he  proposed  that  an  organized 


94  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

attempt  should  be  made  by  the  society,  jointly  with  the 
city  government,  to  found  an  establishment  in  which  to 
assure  the  employment  of,  first,  strangers  during  the 
first  month  after  their  arrival ;  secondly,  citizens,  who, 
from  the  effects  of  sickness  or  casualty,  have  lost  their 
usual  employment ;  thirdly,  widows  and  orphans,  inca 
pable  of  labor ;  and,  fourthly,  discharged  or  pardoned 
convicts  from  the  state-prison.  This  experiment  would 
have  required  a  capital  and  an  organization  which  he 
thought  the  city  government  not  prepared  to  undertake 
alone,  but  which  he  believed  practicable  as  a  joint  un 
dertaking  of  the  government  and  the  society  which  he 
addressed.  In  this  communication  there  are  some  touches 
of  the  earnestness  and  eloquence  with  which  he  was  af 
terwards  wont  to  write  upon  these  and  kindred  topics.  He 
dwelt  upon  some  of  the  results  which  he  hoped  would 
flow  from  the  adoption  of  the  measure  ;  as  the  suppres 
sion  of  mendicity,  the  prevention  of  those  crimes  which 
arise  from  idleness  and  want,  the  restoration  of  unfortu 
nate  citizens  sunk  by  misfortune  below  their  former  sta 
tion  in  society,  and  the  accomplishment  of  reformation 
along  with  the  punishment  of  criminals.  "  It  is,"  said 
he,  in  this  paper,  referring  to  the  penitentiary  system, 
"  a  great,  I  had  almost  said  a  godlike  experiment,  worthy 
of  the  free  country  in  which  it  is  made,  honorable  to 
the  men  who  planned,  and  highly  creditable  to  those  who 
conduct  it.  Its  progress  is  regarded  with  an  interest 
running  into  anxiety,  by  the  friends  of  humanity  in  every 
quarter  of  the  world  ;  and  its  failure,  from  whatever  cause, 
will  check  the  spirit  of  improvement  that  suggested  it, 
and  restore  the  ancient  bloody  code  with  all  its  horrors. 
But  it  must  be  evident  that  nothing  will  tend  so  much 
to  defeat  the  principal  object  of  reformation,  and  at  the 
same  time  endanger  the  security  of  the  city  in  which 


OFFICES    AND   MISFORTUNES.  95 

it  is  placed,  as  the  situation  in  which  those  who  have  un 
dergone  the  sentence  of  the  law  now  stand  at  the  time 
of  their  discharge.  The  odium  justly  attached  to  the 
crime  is  continued  to  the  culprit  after  he  has  suffered  its 
penalty ;  he  is  restored  to  society,  hut  prejudice  repels 
him  from  its  hosom ;  he  has  acquired  the  skill  and 
has  the  inclination  to  provide  honestly  for  his  support. 
Years  of  penitence  and  labor  have  wiped  away  his  crime, 
and  given  him  habits  of  industry,  and  skill  to  direct  them. 
But  no  means  are  provided  for  their  exertion.  He  has 
no  capital  of  his  own,  and  that  of  others  will  not 
be  intrusted  to  him  ;  he  is  not  permitted  to  labor ;  he 
dares  not  beg  ;  and  he  is  forced  for  subsistence  to  plunge 
anew  into  the  same  crimes,  to  suffer  the  same  punish 
ment  he  has  just  undergone,  or,  perhaps,  with  more  cau 
tion  and  address,  to  escape  it.  Thus  the  institution,  in 
stead  of  diminishing,  may  increase  the  number  of  offences. 
This  partial  defect,  so  easily  remedied,  may  ruin  the 
system,  and  put  a  stop  to  the  fairest  experiment  ever 
made  in  favor  of  humanity." 

The  Mayor  here  unfolded  his  scheme,  of  which  the 
leading  features  were  the  opening  of  public  workshops 
for  the  several  branches  of  mechanical  art,  in  which  any 
tradesman  wanting  employment  would  be  sure  to  get  it, 
in  his  proper  trade,  —  each  shop  to  be  managed  under 
the  direction  of  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Mechanic 
Society ;  a  general  office  for  the  reception  of  applica 
tions  by  those  destitute  of  employment,  as  well  as  by 
those  requiring  workmen  ;  a  large  workroom,  annexed  to 
the  almshouse,  in  which  women  and  children  might  be 
employed  in  labors  suited  to  their  strength,  where  food 
might  be  prepared  for  them  at  a  cheap  rate,  and  where 
the  children  might  receive  the  advantage  of  some  edu 
cation  in  the  school  belonging  to  that  establishment ;  a 


96  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

system  of  regulations  for  the  purchase  of  raw  material, 
sale  of  manufactured  goods,  and  prices  of  labor ;  and  the 
furnishing  of  the  necessary  capital  by  the  corporation  of 
the  city,  for  the  due  application  of  which,  but  not  for 
inevitable  loss,  the  committees  should  be  responsible. 

"  This,"  continued  the  Mayor,  "  is  a  sketch  of  the 
plan  which  presented  itself  to  my  mind  as  one  that  would 
probably  effect  the  objects  I  have  detailed.  Many  parts 
of  it  may  perhaps  be  changed  for  the  better,  and  other 
valuable  ideas  suggested,  in  case  you  should  think  proper 
to  appoint  a  committee  to  confer  with  me  on  the  subject. 
A  general  establishment  under  the  direction  of  the  cor 
poration  would  seem  to  present  many  advantages  over 
the  one  now  proposed.  But,  besides  the  difficulty  of 
raising  a  fund  sufficient  for  its  support,  it  would  have 
the  disadvantage  of  creating  an  interest  which  might 
sometimes  be  supposed  injurious  to  the  mechanic  who 
works  only  on  his  own  small  capital ;  whereas  the  be 
ing  under  the  superintendence  of  the  Mechanic  Society 
could  never  give  rise  to  any  such  prejudice.  Having 
mentioned  the  cooperation  of  the  common  council  of  the 
city,  I  must  not  be  understood  as  speaking  their  senti 
ments,  or  in  any  wise  pledging  them  to  countenance  the 
plan.  It  has  not  yet  been  mentioned  at  the  board,  and 
will  receive  no  further  encouragement  from  them  than 
on  discussion  its  merits  shall  be  found  to  warrant."* 

*  We  have  seen  that  Mr.  Liv-  in  the  French  of  Dumont,  in  1802. 
ingston  had  in  Congress,  some  years  This  fact  he  acknowledged  in  a  let- 
before  this  period,  made  earnest  but  ter  to  Bentham  of  August  10,  1829. 
ineffectual  efforts  to  meliorate  a  por-  Vide  Bentham' 's  Works,  edited  by 
tion  of  the  criminal  laws  of  the  Bowring,  vol.  xi.  page  23.  In  a 
United  States.  But  the  reflection  subsequent  letter,  which  appears  in 
which  was  to  lead  eventually  to  the  the  same  collection,  Livingston  wrote 
preparation  of  an  original,  compre-  to  Bentham,  —  "Although  strongly 
hensive,  and  complete  system  of  pe-  impressed  with  the  defects  of  our 
nal  legislation,  first  received  impulse  actual  system  of  penal  law,  yet  the 
and  shape  from  the  perusal  of  those  perusal  of  your  works  first  gave  meth- 
of  Bentham's  works  which  appeared,  od  to  my  ideas,  and  taught  me  to 


OFFICES    AND   MISFORTUNES.  97 

The  response  of  the  society  was  a  respectful  and  elab 
orate  refusal  to  entertain  the  plan.  Circumstances  soon 
occurred  which  prevented  the  author  from  seeking  an 
other  method  of  bringing  it  before  the  people  of  his  native 
State ;  and  its  gradual  growth  in  his  mind  and  under 
his  hand  to  a  complete  proposed  system,  comprehending 
a  reconstruction  of  the  entire  framework  and  details  of 
criminal  legislation,  was  reserved  for  a  later  period  and 
another  place. 

Would  the  reader  suppose  that  the  man  who  performed 
from  day  to  day  these  varied  practical  labors,  and  who 
pursued  at  the  same  time  such  researches  and  contem 
plations  as  are  here  indicated,  could  also  find  much  of 
either  leisure  or  inclination  for  domestic  intercourse,  so 
ciety,  or  amusement  ]  The  capacity  and  taste  of  Liv 
ingston  were  sufficient  for  all  these.  He  could  tempo 
rarily  lay  aside  the  gravest  cares  and  the  deepest  studies 
with  a  grace  and  a  relish,  in  the  very  spirit  of  the  Ho- 
ratian  recommendation,  — 

"  Misce  stultitiam  consiliis  brevem." 

Among  his  intimate  acquaintances  he  never  let  pass  an 
opportunity  for  producing  a  pun  ;  and  if  a  good  one  did 
not  come  into  his  mind,  an  indifferent  one  would  serve 
the  purpose  of  his  gleefulness  and  gayety.  The  late 
Honorable  Charles  J.  Ingersoll,  during  the  last  month  of 
his  life,  gave  me  from  his  own  memory,  after  a  lapse  of 
sixty  years,  this  anecdote.  On  a  visit  at  New  York 
during  the  period  referred  to,  he  escorted  the  celebrated 
Theodosia  Burr  to  see  a  frigate  then  lying  in  the  harbor, 
upon  the  invitation  and  in  the  company  of  the  Mayor. 
On  the  way,  the  latter,  in  the  liveliest  manner,  exclaimed 

consider  legislation  as  a  science  gov-  powers,  called  forth  only  on  particu- 

erned  by  certain  principles  applica-  lar  occasions,  without  relation  to  or 

ble  to  all  its  different  branches,  in-  connection  with  each  other."     Vide 

stead  of  an  occasional  exercise  of  its  page  5 1  of  the  same  volume. 
13 


98  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

to  the  young  lady,  "  Now,  Theodosia,  you  must  bring 
none  of  your  sparks  on  board.  They  have  a  magazine 
there,  and  we  should  all  be  blown  up."  He  seemed  al 
ways  ready  for  a  hearty  laugh,  and  was  not  fastidious  about 
the  quality  of  the  wit  which  should  provoke  it.  At  his 
own  table,  or  among  his  familiar  friends,  his  gayety  was 
perennial ;  and  a  stranger  seeing  him  in  these  circum 
stances  would  have  supposed  that  the  usual  topics  of 
conversation  common  to  the  young  and  the  old  of  both 
sexes  were  those  in  which  he  felt  the  most  lively  interest. 
He  was  himself  fond  of  some  kinds  of  amusement,  and 
enjoyed  sympathetically  the  amusements  of  all.  One  of 

his  nieces,  Mrs.  L ,  of  Rhinebeck,  has  lately  told  me, 

what  she  remembers  well,  that  during  the  same  period, 
when  she  was  about  sixteen  years  of  age  and  spending 
a  winter  with  her  uncle,  she  once  said  in  his  presence, 
while  talking  of  the  play  which  she  had  seen  the  evening 
before,  "Oh,  I  wish  I  could  go  to  the  theatre  every 
night."  "  Well,  my  dear,"  said  the  Mayor,  "  you  shall, 
you  shall."  And  he  actually  went  with  her  to  see  every 
representation,  then  on  each  alternate  night,  for  two  or 
three  weeks,  until  she  voluntarily  begged  that  the  pleasure 
might  be  intermitted. 

His  daily  official  labors  were  despatched  with  aston 
ishing  facility,  and  he  still  found  some  leisure  for  reading 
general  literature,  including  poems,  and  even  romances, 
in  which  he  delighted.  In  short,  the  capacity  and  the 
sympathy  of  this  able,  learned,  philosophic,  and  busy 
man,  seemed  only  confined  to  the  region  of  human  tastes 
and  interests.  Not  Terence  nor  any  other,  with  more 
truth,  could  say, — 

"  Homo  sum  ;  humani  nihil  a  me  alienum  puto." 

Such  was  the  active  but  even  tenor  of  Livingston's 
life,  from  the  time  when  he  undertook  these  offices  until 


OFFICES   AND   MISFORTUNES.  99 

the  summer  of  1803.  New  York  has  been  visited  sev 
eral  times  by  that  fearful  pestilence,  the  yellow-fever,  — 
the  rarity  of  the  dispensation  always  heightening-  its 
terror,  —  and  one  of  the  most  memorable  of  these  occa 
sions  was  in  that  year.  The  first  appearance  of  the 
scourge  was  about  the  20th  of  July,  and  its  presence 
lasted  till  the  end  of  October.  This  event  elicited  a 
display,  on  the  part  of  the  Mayor,  in  the  regular  dis 
charge  of  his  functions,  of  more  lofty  qualities  than  a 
lifetime  of  ordinary  official  duty  could  have  called  into 
exercise.  The  public  alarm  was  great  and  universal. 
As  a  rule,  all  who  could  possibly  leave  the  city  for  any 
place  of  safety  hastened  to  do  so.  As  usual,  however, 
there  were  many  instances  of  selfishness  and  cowardice  on 
the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  many  examples  of  heroic 
philanthropy.  The  reader  will  not  need  a  minute  picture 
of  those  dismal  scenes  of  which  the  city  was  then  the 
theatre,  so  like  other  often  painted  scenes  of  pestilence 
enacted  elsewhere, — the  hospitals,  the  streets,  the  shipping, 
the  flights,  the  burials,  —  in  order  to  comprehend  the  po 
sition  of  the  Mayor,  or  to  appreciate  his  conduct.  He 
regarded  himself  bound,  as  by  a  sacred  contract,  to  re 
main  steadfastly  at  his  post,  and  calmly  face  the  public 
enemy,  without  the  slightest  attention  to  what  might  be 
the  consequences  upon  himself. 

He  so  remained,  but  did  not  limit  his  exertions  to  a 
frigid  performance  of  his  official  duty.  On  the  contrary, 
he  kept  a  list  of  the  houses  in  which  there  were  any 
sick,  and  visited  them  all,  as  well  as  the  hospitals,  every 
day,  ascertaining  and  supplying  the  indispensable  needs 
of  the  poorest  and  most  forsaken  of  the  sufferers.  He 
made  every  sick  person  in  some  sense  his  patient,  and 
sought  some  share  in  the  grief  or  joy  of  the  families  of 
victims  or  convalescents.  He  animated  the  zeal  of  his 


100  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

colleagues  and  subordinates  in  the  government,  stimulated 
the  fidelity  of  nurses,  physicians,  and  priests,  and  even 
went  about  the  city  at  night,  to  see  for  himself  if  the 
watchmen  were  thorough  in  their  duty.  In  a  word,  it 
was  the  part  of  a  Howard,  in  the  person  of  a  conscien 
tious  chief  magistrate,  that  he  enacted  in  this  dreadfully 
real  drama. 

For  some  time,  and  until  there  was  a  marked  abate 
ment  in  the  prevailing  fatality  of  the  epidemic,  he  en 
joyed  complete  health.  Then  he  was  himself  taken  down 
by  the  contagion.  But  his  good  constitution,  aided  by 
a  sanguine  will  and  the  particular  care  which  his  case 
received,  secured  him  a  rapid  recovery  after  a  rather  vio 
lent  but  short  crisis.  He  was  now  the  object  of  extraor 
dinary  popular  gratitude  and  regard.  When  his  physi 
cians  called  for  Madeira  to  be  administered  to  him,  not 
a  bottle  of  that  or  any  other  kind  of  wine  was  to  be 
found  in  his  cellar.  He  had  himself  prescribed  every 
drop  for  others.  As  soon  as  the  fact  was  known,  the 
best  wines  were  sent  to  his  house  from  every  direction. 
A  crowd  thronged  the  street  near  his  door,  to  obtain  the 
latest  news  of  his  condition ;  and  young  people  vied  with 
each  other  for  the  privilege  of  watching  by  his  bed. 

An  ambitious  man  could  hardly  desire  a  better  van 
tage  than  that  which  Livingston  now  seemed  to  occupy. 
He  was  but  thirty-nine  years  of  age  ;  yet  he  had  proved 
his  great  talents  as  an  advocate,  as  a  legislator,  as  an 
administrator  of  public  affairs,  and  as  a  judge.  His 
civic  virtue  had  just  been  put  to  the  hardest  test,  and 
found  reliable.  The  dangers  of  the  trial  were  past,  and 
these  high  qualities  were  widely  appreciated  both  by 
public  men  and  by  the  people.  Surely,  nothing  was 
here  wanting  to  the  appropriate  description  of  a  rising 
man. 


OFFICES    AND    MISFORTUNES. 

So  far,  his  course  had  been  one  of  uniform  prosperity 
and  uninterrupted  success.  His  happiness  had  been  un 
clouded,  except  by  the  afflictions  which  have  been  men 
tioned  and  one  other.  His  eldest  son,  Charles  Edward, 
had  died  in  November,  1802,  at  the  age  of  twelve  years. 
He  was  a  youth  of  a  feeble  constitution,  but  of  the 
sweetest  disposition,  and  of  a  precocious  native  piety 
and  strong  sense.  The  father  mourned  him  sincerely, 
but  a  long  expectation  of  the  bereavement  materially 
softened  its  effects. 

I  have  now  to  record  the  principal  misfortune  of  Liv 
ingston's  life,  —  a  misfortune  which,  in  fact,  served  to 
divide  his  life  into  two  distinct  careers,  bringing  that 
over  which  we  have  glanced  to  an  abrupt  close,  and 
leading  to  another,  destined,  in  its  labors,  achievements, 
and  fame,  to  eclipse  the  first. 

At  that  time,  such  moneys  belonging  to  the  United 
States  as  were  collected  by  legal  proceedings,  instead  of 
being  paid  directly  to  agents  of  the  treasury,  as  is  now 
done,  were  received  by  the  attorneys,  and  accounted  for 
to  the  government  in  the  periodical  settlement  of  their 
accounts  for  services.  The  principal  sums  so  received 
by  the  office  at  New  York,  while  it  was  held  by  Liv 
ingston,  were  on  the  collection  of  custom-house  bonds, 
small  in  amounts  but  sometimes  large  in  number,  and 
usually  paid,  if  at  all,  without  litigation.  While  he  had 
so  many  irons  in  the  fire,  he  could  pay  but  little  attention 
to  this  part  of  the  business,  and  he  had  no  taste  for 
personally  managing  such  affairs.  From  a  certain  ne 
cessity,  therefore,  as  well  as  from  inclination,  he  left 
these  matters  for  the  most  part  in  the  hands  of  his  subor 
dinates.  But  this  was  somewhat  too  laxly  done, — a  kind 
of  error  to  which  more  than  to  any  other  his  large  and 
easy  nature  exposed  him.  The  result  which  the  more 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

exact  attention  of  an  inferior  man  would  have  prevented, 
happened.  His  too  easy  confidence  was  abused ;  and 
when,  early  in  August,  while  the  yellow-fever  was  at  its 
height  in  the  city,  his  attention  was  called  by  the  gov 
ernment  to  the  state  of  his  accounts,  it  was  apparent 
that,  without  funds  in  his  possession,  he  was  indebted 
to  the  United  States  in  a  considerable  amount. 

The  principal  act,  the  act  of  another,  which  placed  him 
in  this  unlooked-for  position,  was  a  most  cruel  injury. 
His  proper  income  was  large,  and  although  his  habit  in 
both  spending  and  giving  was  free,  and  perhaps  careless, 
his  personal  tastes  were  all  simple,  and  none  of  them 
expensive.  Though  he  was  obliged  to  entertain  much, 
as  we  have  seen,  it  was  done  without  display  or  profu 
sion. 

Still,  it  is  plain,  I  think,  that,  if  he  had  possessed 
common  skill  in  the  management  of  pecuniary  affairs, 
and  had  exercised  ordinary  care  in  watching  the  funds 
for  which  he  was  responsible,  this  calamity  might  have 
been  avoided.  Here  was  the  single  defect  in  his  capacity, 
—  the  one  cdnspicuous  weakness  of  his  character.  His 
versatility,  which  was  sufficient  for  almost  any  other  busi 
ness,  public  or  private,  was  inadequate  to  book-keeping 
and  finance.  He  did  not  love  money,  and  could  not 
comprehend  its  real  value  as  most  men  readily  do,  nor 
interest  himself  in  the  process  of  counting  or  of  slowly 
accumulating  it.  The  whole  following  course  of  this 
narrative  will,  I  believe,  verify  these  observations,  and 
show  that  one  who,  by  a  happy  union  of  the  sterner  and 
the  milder  virtues,  came  nearer  to  such  perfection  of 
character  as  is  possible  to  our  nature  than  is  often  per 
mitted,  was  yet  obliged  to  suffer  a  rigorous  and  endur 
ing  penalty  for  one  failing  from  which  even  the  sordid 
are  very  commonly  exempt. 


OFFICES   AND    MISFORTUNES. 

Mr.  Livingston  seldom  in  after-life  made  any  allusion 
to  the  particulars  of  this  unhappy  affair.  The  most  ex 
plicit  statement  that,  as  far  as  I  can  find,  ever  came  from 
him  on  the  subject,  was  in  a  pamphlet  which,  five  years 
later,  he  addressed  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in 
the  course  of  a  public  controversy  with  the  President,  Mr. 
Jefferson,  —  of  which  an  account  will  be  given  hereafter  in 
these  pages,  —  a  controversy  wherein  he  was  foiled  in  an 
endeavor  to  realize  speedily  the  means  of  paying  his  debt. 
The  statement  to  which  I  refer  occurs  in  a  passage  explan 
atory  of  his  reasons  for  addressing  the  public,  and  is  as 
follows :  — 

"  It  is  time  that  I  should  speak.  Silence  now  would  be 
cruelty  to  my  children,  injustice  to  my  creditors,  treachery 
to  my  fame.  The  consciousness  of  a  serious  imprudence, 
which  created  the  debt  I  owe  the  public,  I  confess  it  with 
humility  and  regret,  has  rendered  me  perhaps  too  desir 
ous  of  avoiding  public  observation, — an  imprudence  which, 
if  nothing  can  excuse,  may  at  least  be  accounted  for  by 
the  confidence  I  placed  in  an  agent,  who  received  and  ap 
propriated  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  sum,  and  the 
moral  certainty  I  had  of  being  able  to  answer  any  call  for 
the  residue  whenever  it  should  be  made.  Perhaps,  too,  it 
may  be  atoned  for  in  some  degree  by  the  mortification  of 
exile,  by  my  constant  and  laborious  exertions  to  satisfy  the 
claims  of  justice,  by  the  keen  disappointment  attending 
this  deadly  blow  to  the  hopes  I  had  encouraged  of  pour 
ing  into  the  public  treasury  the  fruits  of  my  labor,  and 
above  all  by  the  humiliation  of  this  public  avowal." 

The  agent  here  spoken  of  was  a  confidential  clerk,  a 
Frenchman  by  birth,  whose  name  I  could  give  if  it  would 
serve  any  useful  purpose.  He  is  said  to  have  devoted 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  stolen  money  to  riotous  liv 
ing.  I  have  conversed  with  those  who  remembered  his 


104  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

person  distinctly,  as  well  as  the  notorious  circumstance 
of  his  delinquency.  Of  his  history  or  fate  I  could  learn 
nothing  further. 

In  this  unexpected  trouble  the  conduct  of  Livingston 
was  prompt,  and  in  all  respects  characteristic.  Being  sat 
isfied  of  his  liability  for  an  amount  which  he  could  not 
then  discharge,  he  wasted  no  time  in  attempts  to  parry  the 
disaster,  or  to  divide  the  responsibility  with  the  real  but 
irresponsible  delinquent.  Without  waiting  even  for  an 
adjustment  of  his  accounts,  he  voluntarily  confessed  judg 
ment  in  favor  of  the  United  States  for  $100,000,  in  order 
to  cover  the  amount  which  the  adjustment  should  show 
to  be  the  real  balance  against  him, — afterwards  fixed  at 
$43,666.21.  At  the  same  time,  he  conveyed  all  his 
property  to  a  trustee  for  sale,  and  an  application  of  the 
proceeds  to  the  payment  of  his  debt.  The  property  con 
veyed  consisted  of  real  estate,  which,  though  not  very 
marketable,  he  valued  at  a  sum  sufficient  for  the  security 
of  the  government.  And  he  immediately  resigned  both 
his  offices. 

This  was  done  while  the  pestilence  was  raging  in  the 
city.  The  resignation  of  the  mayoralty  was  accompanied 
by  an  offer  to  continue  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  office 
until  the  subsidence  of  the  epidemic.  The  Governor  sent 
him  the  following  note,  tacitly  postponing  to  act  upon  his 
resignation,  and  accepting  his  offer :  — 

"  To  the  Hon.  EDWARD  LIVINGSTON,  Esq.,") 
Mayor  of  the  City  of  New  York.         j 

"Albany,  apth  August,  1803. 

"  DEAR  SIR  :  I  have  the  honor  of  receiving  your  letter 
of  the  19th.  I  sincerely  regret,  as  well  from  considera 
tions  of  a  personal  as  of  a  public  nature,  the  cause  which 
has  induced  you  to  offer  a  resignation  of  the  highly  impor- 


OFFICES    AND    MISFORTUNES. 

taut  office  you  hold,  and  which  you  are  so  eminently 
qualified  to  fill.  My  absence  from  home  has  prevented 
me  from  thanking  you  at  an  earlier  day  for  your  obliging 
favor  of  the  19th  inst. 

"  I  am,  with  great  esteem  and  respect, 

"  Your  most  obedient  servant, 

"  GEORGE  CLINTON." 

A  different  course,  including  his  retention  of  the  office 
of  Mayor,  would  seem  to  have  been  quite  practicable. 
Two  months  intervened  between  the  offer  of  his  resigna 
tion  and  its  acceptance  by  the  Governor  and  Council  of 
Appointment,  when  finally  De  Witt  Clinton  was  selected 
to  succeed  him.  Efforts  were  made  during  the  interval 
by  his  friends,  including  some  members  of  the  Council, 
to  persuade  him  to  reconsider  his  determination.  And 
when  it  was  known  that  his  mind  was  fixed  in  this,  he 
received  from  all  sides  a  shower  of  expressions,  public 
and  private,  of  regret  and  sympathy  which  must  have 
proved  truly  soothing.  The  parting  address  which  he 
received  from  the  common  council  of  the  city  contains 
such  unusual  traces  of  sincerity  and  real  feeling  that  I 
transcribe  it  here  as  follows  :  — 

"  Sir :  We  should  merit  the  reproaches  of  our  fellow- 
citizens,  and  fail  in  duty  to  ourselves,  if  we  should  pass  in 
silence  the  affecting  moment  which  terminates  your  ad 
ministration  as  first  magistrate  of  this  city  ;  we  unite  with 
the  utmost  cordiality  in  that  applause  which  the  public 
voice  hath  so  justly  bestowed  on  your  conduct  in  execution 
of  the  office  of  mayor,  on  the  learning  and  discernment 
displayed  in  your  judicial  decisions,  your  vigilance,  your 
activity,  and  zeal  as  an  executive  magistrate. 

"  Having  been  connected  with  you  in  the  discharge  of 
14 


106  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

the  greater  part  of  those  duties,  we  cannot  too  warmly 
acknowledge  the  uniform  politeness  and  courtesy  of  your 
manners.  Inflexible  in  the  preservation  of  order  and  in 
the  execution  of  the  laws,  yet  unbiassed  by  personal  feel 
ing  or  party  prejudice,  you  have  invariably  exhibited  dig 
nity  and  firmness  tempered  by  complacency;  even  when 
differing  from  you  in  opinion,  we  have  always  had  occa 
sion  to  admire  your  rigid  impartiality  and  the  indepen 
dence  of  your  sentiments. 

"  This  assemblage  of  qualities  so  rarely  combined 
would  suffice  to  command  our  highest  respect  and  esteem ; 
but  it  was  reserved  for  a  period  of  desolating  calamity  to 
display  the  extent  of  your  philanthropy,  and  your  disin 
terested  devotion  to  the  public  welfare.  During  the 
scenes  of  affliction  and  dismay  with  which  it  hath  lately 
pleased  God  to  visit  our  city,  we  beheld  with  admiration, 
and  with  the  most  grateful  emotions,  the  unremitted  zeal 
with  which  you  sought  out  and  relieved  distress,  and  the 
alacrity  with  which  you  sacrificed  your  personal  safety  and 
comfort  to  that  of  the  suffering  poor ;  regardless  of  danger 
and  toil,  and  disdaining  all  cold  examination  of  the  mere 
limits  of  official  duty,  when  humanity  called,  you  obeyed 
only  the  impulse  of  your  generous  heart.  Thus,  Sir,  you 
have  erected  in  the  breasts  of  the  virtuous  a  monument  of 
gratitude  which  calumny  cannot  sully  nor  time  deface. 

"  The  anxiety  and  alarm  which  pervaded  all  ranks  of 
citizens  during  the  dangerous  illness  which  you  contracted 
in  administering  to  them  relief,  pronounced,  in  language 
which  flatterers  cannot  imitate  nor  envy  distort,  the  ardor 
and  sincerity  of  their  affection ;  and  we  join  with  them 
in  fervent  acknowledgments  to  the  supreme  and  benefi 
cent  Disposer  of  events,  who  hath  graciously  spared  your 
life  and  restored  you  to  health. 

"  We  must  indeed  be  destitute  of  the  feelings  of  men, 


OFFICES    AND   MISFORTUNES. 

if  we  could  witness,  without  regret,  the  period  which 
dissolves  a  connection  endeared  by  so  many  ties.  We 
look  in  vain  for  consolation  to  the  future.  Yet  you  have 
so  marked  the  path  of  duty  that  inferior  abilities,  if 
guided  by  intentions  as  pure,  may  follow  in  the  steps 
traced  by  your  wisdom,  and  for  a  time  preserve  the  im 
pulse  which  your  energy  hath  produced.  While  we 
cherish  this  hope,  the  memory  of  your  example  will 
direct  our  conduct  and  animate  our  zeal  in  the  discharge 
of  our  respective  functions. 

"  Be  assured,  Sir,  that  our  attachment  to  your  person 
and  gratitude  for  your  services  will  endure  with  the 
recollection  of  your  virtues ;  and  that  you  bear  with 
you  our  lasting  regret  and  esteem,  and  our  prayers  for 
your  prosperity  and  happiness. 

"  JOHN  OOTHOUT, 
"  PHILIP  BRASHER, 
"  JOSHUA  BARKER, 
"  Committee  of  the  Common  Council." 

But,  whatever  comfort  he  might  find  in  the  homage 
of  friends  or  in  the  popular  sympathy,  that  consideration 
could  not  for  a  moment  relieve  him  from  a  conscious 
ness  of  the  new  burden  which  was  destined  to  continue, 
contrary  to  his  sanguine  hopes,  alternately  to  stimulate 
his  exertions,  to  oppress  his  spirits,  and  to  perfect  his 
fortitude  for  many  years  ;  nor  did  it  for  a  moment  divert 
his  mind  from  a  plan  for  the  future,  which  he  deliber 
ately  but  swiftly  formed. 

In  April  of  the  same  year,  1803,  Louisiana,  or  the 
province  of  Orleans,  comprising  the  present  States  of 
Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Missouri,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  (except 
the  corner  lying  northeast  of  the  Mississippi,)  Nebraska, 
and  Kansas,  and  the  Indian  Territory,  was  purchased 


108  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

by  the  United  States  from  France.  Chancellor  Living 
ston,  the  revered  elder  brother  of  Edward,  had  been 
from  the  beginning  of  Jefferson's  administration  the 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  our  government  to  France ; 
and  the  success  of  this  negotiation,  at  the  particular  time 
when  it  was  accomplished,  was  the  result  of  his  diplo 
macy,  which  had  been  bold,  skilful,  and  indefatigable. 
Mr.  Monroe  arrived  in  France  with  extraordinary  powers 
on  this  subject,  but  a  few  days  before  the  treaty  was 
concluded,  and,  during  those  days,  assisted  in  that  part 
of  the  negotiation  which  related  to  fixing  the  price  of 
the  country  to  be  ceded, — Napoleon  being  represented 
by  Marbois,  afterwards  the  candid  historian  of  the  treaty ; 
but  the  whole  merit  of  successfully  bringing  the  matter 
to  this  point,  at  the  right  moment,  was  that  of  the 
minister.  From  the  latter  Edward  had  received  very 
early  knowledge  of  the  subject,  strongly  exciting  his 
interest  in  it.  In  June,  Lafayette  had  written  to  him, 
"  Bernadotte  is  returned  from  Rochelle,  where  he  was 
to  embark,  and  his  mission  I  consider  as  happily  ended 
by  the  blessed  arrangement  for  Louisiana.  With  all 
my  heart  I  rejoice  with  you  on  this  grand  negotiation, 
which,  both  as  a  citizen  and  a  brother,  must  be  not  less 
pleasing  to  you  than  it  is  to  me."  * 

*  Bernadotte  had  been  charged  votre  frere  et  les  papiers  publics  vous 
by  Napoleon  with  an  errand  to  our  auront  appris,  Monsieur,  le  mal- 
government,  and  Lafayette  had  writ-  heureux  accident  que  M.  de  La- 
ten  to  bespeak  a  good  reception  for  fayette  a  eprouve.  Je  suis  bien 
him  from  Livingston.  Between  the  sure  que  votre  amitie  y  aura  pris 
last  two  there  was  a  regular  inter-  part,  et  que  ce  sentiment  est  par- 
change  of  news  of  every  event  of  tage  par  toute  votre  excellente  fa- 
importance  to  either.  A  few  months  mille.  Nous  avons  eu  la  douleur 
earlier  than  the  date  of  the  above-  de  voir  ce  cher  malade  livre  k  de 
mentioned  letter,  while  Lafayette  cruelles  souffrances ;  il  doit  encore 
was  confined  with  a  fractured  limb,  subir  six  semaines  d'une  gene  dou- 
Madame  Lafayette  wrote  the  follow-  leureuse,  et  presqu'  insupportable,  — 
ing  to  Livingston  :  —  mais  graces  k  1'invention  d'une  nou- 

velle  machine  cette   fracture  du  col 

"Paris,  10  ventose,  ier  Mars,  1803.  <ju    femur  qu'on  regardait   autrefois 

**  La  correspondance  de  Monsieur  comme  incurable,  sera  completement 


OFFICES    AND    MISFORTUNES. 

When  the  Mayor  received  this  letter,  he  little  dreamed 
that  his  own  interest  in  the  "  hlessed  arrangement "  would 
soon  he  something'  more  than  that  of  "  a  citizen  and  a 
brother."  The  hlow  destructive  of  his  fortune  and  threat 
ening  his  complete  ruin  shortly  afterwards  fell.  Then 
the  prospect  suddenly  opening  to  New  Orleans  as  a  com 
mercial  city,  and  to  Louisiana  as  a  mother  of  great  States, 
suggested  to  him  the  thought  that  the  new  territory  — 
where  the  French  language,  with  which  he  was  familiar, 
was  the  one  chiefly  spoken,  and  where  the  civil  law,  whose 
principles  he  had  mastered  and  admired,  was  the  basis 
of  jurisprudence  —  might  be  his  best  field  for  the  purpose 
with  which  he  burned,  of  quickly  regaining  his  indepen 
dence.  He  felt  sure  that  he  could  in  time  effect  his  de 
liverance  by  professional  exertions  at  New  York  ;  but, 
there  the  process  would  be  too  slow  for  his  patience, 
while  there  existed  a  reasonable  chance  of  a  more  speedy 
rescue  elsewhere. 

He  now  had  need  of  all  his  philosophy.  He  was 
considerably  past  the  period  of  life  when  usually,  if  ever, 
a  man  undertakes  for  the  first  time  such  an  adventure, 

guerie.     Son  courage  et  1'egalite  de  Toute  sa  famille  s'y  unit  bien  cor- 

sa   Constance    au  milieu  de   ces   dif-  dialement.       Agreez    en    particulier 

ferens  supplices  ont  soutenu,  et  sou-  1'hommage    de     Tattachement     que 

tiennent  encore  nos    forc«s,   et   sont  mon  fils  vous  a  voue ;  il  m'est  doux 

regarded  par  les  gens  de  1'art  comme  de    vous    rdpeter    ici    combien    nous 

un    moyen    de    gudrison.     C'est    au  fumes    touches    pendant    notre    cap- 

moins   un  motif  d'esperance  que  sa  tivite    des    honorables    et    sensibles 

sante  ne  restera  pas  alteree  des  suites  temoignages  d'interet  que  vous  lui 

de  ses  souffrances.      C'est  dans  cette  donnates,   et  combien   nous    sentons 

situation  que  M.  de  Lafayette  vient  le  prix  d'un  ami   tel  que  vous.     Je 

d'apprendre  vos  bienveillantes  inten-  ne  vous  parle  pas  de  Taimable  par- 

tions   £    son   dgard    et  les    nouvelles  tie    de    votre    famille    qui     est    ici, 

obligations    que    vous    voulez     bien  parceque     vous     recevrez    de    leurs 

ajouter  h,  celles  que  nous  vous  avions  nouvelles  par  la  meme  occasion,  et 

dejk.      II  en  est  pendtre  de  recon-  je  me  borne  k  vous  offrir  1'expression 

naissance,  et  comme  la  necessite  de  de  I'attachement  et  de  la  haute  con- 

rester  couche  sur  le  dos,  sans  aucun  sideration    avec    lesquels   j'ai    1'hon- 

mouvement,  1'empeche    de   pouvoir  neur    d'etre    votre   ties    humble    et 

ecrire,  il  me  charge  de  vous  expri-  obdissante  servante, 

mer  tous  les  sentimens  de  sa  grati-  «  NOAILLES  LAFAYETTE." 
tude   et    ceux   de    sa   tendre    amitie. 


HO  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

and  to  this  one  all  his  habits  and  associations,  his  tastes, 
and  his  affections,  opposed  themselves.  It  was  to  quit  the 
scene  of  his  long1  prosperity  and  happiness,  his  family, 
his  friends,  and  the  fresh  graves  of  his  wife  and  eldest 
son  ;  while  the  comfort  and  safety  of  his  two  remaining 
children,  now  nine  and  five  years  old,  the  objects  of  his 
tenderest  feelings,  would  require  them  to  be  left  behind 
for  years.  Nevertheless,  he  resolved  upon  the  enter 
prise,  and,  having  made  the  resolution,  did  not  lag  in 
its  execution.  He  at  once  arranged  his  affairs,  procured 
all  practicable  means  of  extensive  introduction  to  Loui- 
sianians,  and  leaving  his  children,  from  whom  he  had 
never  yet  been  separated,  in  the  care  of  his  brother, 
John  R.  Livingston,  whose  wife  was  Eliza  McEvers, 
the  sister  of  their  mother,  he  embarked,  during  the  last 
week  of  December,  1803,  within  two  months  after  re 
tiring  from  the  mayoralty,  as  a  passenger  on  board  a 
vessel  bound  to  New  Orleans.  All  the  money  and  pe 
cuniary  resources  which  he  had  reserved  out  of  his 
property  and  now  carried,  consisted  of  about  one  hundred 
dollars  in  gold,  and  a  letter  of  credit  for  one  thousand 
dollars  more. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

EMIGRATION   TO    NEW    ORLEANS. 

Voyage,  and  Arrival  at  New  Orleans  —  The  City  and  its  Inhabitants  in 
1804  —  Mr.  Livingston's  Exertions  and  Success  at  the  Bar  —  His  Home 
sickness —  His  Professional  Character  and  Public  Spirit  —  His  Code  of 
Procedure  for  Louisiana  —  A  Confusion  of  Tongues  in  the  Courts  —  Elo 
quence  of  Livingston  before  a  Masonic  Lodge  —  His  Method  as  an  Advo 
cate —  His  Supremacy  at  the  Bar —  Note  from  Mazureau  —  Mr.  Living 
ston's  Social  Traits  —  His  Taste  for  Mechanical  Invention  —  His  Second 
Marriage  —  Prospects  of  Pecuniary  Success  —  Obstacles  —  Calumnious 
Attack  upon  Mr.  Livingston  by  General  Wilkinson. 

'  I  ^HERE  is  a  brief  and  fragmentary  journal  of  this 
-*•  voyage  still  existing,  in  Mr.  Livingston's  hand 
writing,  from  the  reading  of  which  a  stranger  might 
infer  that  the  distinctive  faculties  and  tastes  of  the  writer 
were  observant  rather  than  reflective,  so  lively  an  interest 
it  shows  in  all  he  saw  or  could  glean  from  the  conver 
sation  of  the  taciturn  master  of  the  vessel.  In  this 
simple  and  natural  record  there  is  not  a  trace  of  sadness 
or  regret,  except  the  trivial  disappointment  which  he  felt 
on  being  prevented  by  the  state  of  the  winds  from  land 
ing  at  the  island  of  Abaco,  before  passing  which  he 
had  enjoyed  what  he  calls  "  a  delightful  anticipation  of 
the  pleasure  of  running  over  its  surface,  examining  the 
trees,  plants,  and  animals  of  a  new  climate,  getting  rid 
of  the  confinement  of  a  cabin,  and  enjoying  for  a  few 
hours  the  pleasure  of  fishing  and  shooting,  both  of  which 
we  are  promised  in  great  perfection." 

The  ship  reached  New  Orleans,  after  a  passage  of  six 
and  a  half  weeks,  on  the  7th  of  February,  1804.  The 
city  then  occupied  the  small  rectangular  space  bounded 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

by  the  river,  and  by  Canal,  Rampart,  and  Esplanade 
Streets,  with  a  fort,  built  by  the  Spanish  government, 
at  each  of  the  four  principal  corners. 

The  population  of  the  city  was,  about  the  same  time, 
ascertained  to  be  8056,  including1  1335  free  persons  of 
color  and  QJJS  slaves,  —  a  number  that  was  soon 
doubled  and  trebled.  The  citizens  were,  for  the  most 
part,  Frenchmen  and  Spaniards,  who  had  not  seen  France 
or  Spain.  These  Creoles  had  some  uniform  physical 
traits,  —  the  growth  of  their  adopted  climate,  —  distin 
guishing  them  from  their  ancestral  races.  They  had 
more  beauty  and  less  hardiness  than  their  European 
cousins  ;  and  analogous  to  and  as  distinctly  marked  as 
these  outward  peculiarities  were  certain  of  their  qualities 
of  mind  and  character.  They  were  social,  gay,  and 
refined,  but  not  ambitious,  industrious,  or  enterprising. 
Those  of  French  origin  were  the  preponderant  class,  and 
French  was  the  prevailing  language.  A  few  were  edu 
cated  to  write  and  pronounce  with  a  reasonable  con 
formity  to  the  Academy's  standard ;  but  that  high  au 
thority  was  not  in  general  well  observed  by  these  remote 
provincials,  and  nowhere  else  on  earth  could  the  Parisian 
ear  take  in  sounds  so  shocking  as  those  which  formed 
the  patois  of  the  negroes. 

The  Creoles  had  taste  for  the  art  of  good  and  elegant 
living,  but  had  never  been  stirred,  like  the  peoples  of 
most  countries,  by  the  high  emotions  of  patriotism. 
They  had  quietly  submitted  to  be  bought  and  sold  and 
ceded,  as  a  country,  at  the  convenience  or  pleasure  of 
their  foreign  masters.  They  had  grumbled  a  little,  but 
had  not  resisted,  on  being  handed  over  to  Spain  ;  and 
when  the  American  flag  was  hoisted,  in  token  of  the 
transfer  of  Louisiana  to  the  United  States,  the  new  ban 
ner  was  greeted  with  huzzas  only  by  older  citizens  of 


EMIGRATION   TO   NEW  ORLEANS. 

the  great  republic  who  were  present,  while  the  Creoles 
looked  on  with  an  air  of  well-bred  indifference.  This 
was  but  a  dozen  years  before  the  same  people,  aided  by 
the  heterogeneous  numbers  in  the  mean  time  added  to 
them,  defended  their  homes  and  the  stars  and  stripes 
so  sternly  under  Jackson.  A  rapid  Americanization  ! 
The  Anglo-Saxon  invader  on  that  occasion  met  with  an 
Anglo-Saxon  resistance  from  a  community  made  up  of 
dissimilar  races,  speaking  different  languages,  but  all 
leavened  with  the  spirit  and  courage  of  its  newest  comers. 

Livingston  wasted  no  time,  before  taking  the  most 
direct  and  energetic  steps  in  order  to  realize  the  purpose 
of  his  emigration.  He  made  immediate  use  of  his  in 
troductions,  his  reputation,  and  his  address,  received 
a  prompt  and  hearty  welcome  from  the  community,  and 
occupied  at  once  a  foremost  position  at  the  bar  of  his 
adopted  city.  He  appeared  as  counsel  in  six  causes  in 
April  ;  and  at  the  term  of  the  Governor's  Court,  com 
mencing  on  the  9th  of  May,  in  twenty-nine  cases  of  very 
miscellaneous  character. 

He  now  devoted  himself  wholly  to  business,  and  sel 
dom  left  his  chambers  before  evening,  except  to  go  into 
court.  As  a  single  object  had  taken  him  to  Louisiana, 
that  object  alone  kept  him  there  and  directed  all  his 
energy.  In  the  evening  he  walked,  or  visited  the  families 
of  his  new  acquaintances.  To  his  sister,  Mrs.  Garretson, 
he  wrote,  May  #7th  :  — 

"  My  profession  and  other  circumstances  have  given 
me  a  very  extensive  acquaintance  in  the  province  ;  and 
the  impressions  I  have  received  are  very  favorable  to  the 
character  of  the  inhabitants.  They  are,  in  general,  hos 
pitable,  honest,  and  polite,  without  much  education,  but 
with  excellent  natural  abilities,  and,  in  short,  people  with 
whom  a  man  who  had  nothing  to  regret,  might  pass 

15 


114,  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

his  life  as  happily  as  can  be  expected  in  any  part  of  this 

uncertain  world It   now  seems   decided    that    I 

must  be  separated  from  all  the  friends  of  my  early  life 
for  an  uncertain  length  of  time ;  from  some  of  them 
most  probably  forever.  This  is  an  idea  I  did  not  wish 
to  entertain  ;  but  circumstances  have  forced  me  to  con 
template  it,  until  I  have  become  enabled  to  regard  it, 
if  not  with  composure  and  tranquillity,  at  least  with  the 
resignation  arising  from  necessity.  The  labors  of  a  great 
portion,  if  not  the  whole  of  my  life  are  now  pledged 
to  others,  for  I  much  fear  that  the  losses  on  selling  real 
estate  will  leave  a  large  deficiency  in  the  fund  appropri 
ated  for  my  debts.  I  must  make  this  up,  and  as  I  have 
a  better  prospect  of  effecting  it  here  than  at  New  York, 
I  am  in  justice  bound  to  remain.  The  separation  from 
my  children  is  the  hardest  trial ;  but  I  cannot,  without 
the  greatest  injustice  to  Julia,  take  her  from  the  truly 
maternal  protector  she  has  found ;  and  I  must  try  the 
effects  of  the  summer  climate  before  I  will  indulge  myself 
with  the  society  of  my  little  Lewis,  whose  education  I 
€an  myself  direct." 

The  separation  from  his  children,  which  could  not  be 
prudently  avoided,  was,  indeed,  the  most  trying  circuit- 
stance  of  his  situation.  Julia,  a  child  of  rare  beauty 
and  most  interesting  mind  and  character,  could  only  con 
verse  with  her  father  at  a  distance  of  two  thousand  miles, 
and  fortune  removed  the  "  little  Lewis  "  to  more  than 
double  that  long  distance.  His  aunt,  the  wife  of  General 
Armstrong,  on  the  appointment  of  the  latter  as  Minister 
to  France  in  1804,  took  the  boy  with  them  to  Paris,  where 
he  remained  several  years.  The  father  wrote  briefly  but 
sadly  of  his  "  poor  boy's  departure,"  and  declared  that 
one  of  the  worst  evils  of  his  exile  was  that  he  could 
not  see  the  daily  unfolding  of  a  mind  like  Julia's. 


EMIGRATION    TO    NEW    ORLEANS.  JJ5 

He  might  have  been  sure  of  receiving  a  larger  income 
in  ready  money,  by  indulging  his  inclination  and  remain 
ing  at  New  York.  The  advantage  which  he,  with  good 
reason,  expected  to  realize  at  New  Orleans,  was  a  fa 
cility  of  acquiring,  in  exchange  for  his  services  and  in 
lieu  of  fees,  property  of  greater  prospective  than  present 
value,  and  thus  investing  his  earnings  in  a  mode  assuring 
their  rapid  accumulation.  In  this  he  was  not  mistaken. 
Ready  money  in  large  sums  was  not  then  ordinarily  to 
be  had  at  New  Orleans  for  the  services  of  an  advocate, 
hut  liberal  payments  in  lands  were  willingly  made.  In 
this  way,  he  soon  acquired  the  title  to  real  estate  which 
promised  well  to  become  a  grand  fortune  within  a  few 
years.  One  of  the  earliest  of  these  acquisitions  was  a 
property,  on  the  shore  of  the  Mississippi,  adjacent  to 
the  city,  called  the  Batture  Ste.  Marie,  which  alone  — 
but  for  an  unlooked-for  and  most  untoward,  as  well  as 
unjust  and  illegal  opposition,  which  he  was  destined  to 
meet  at  the  hands  of  his  former  friend,  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  whose  election,  when  trembling  in  the 
balance,  as  we  have  seen,  his  vote  and  steady  conduct  had 
helped  to  decide,  —  an  opposition  yielded  in  aid  of  local 
jealousies  and  temporary  prejudice  —  would  have  made 
real,  at  an  early  day,  his  dream  of  independence.  This 
opposition  gave  rise  to  a  long  and  bitter  controversy,  to 
be  hereafter  detailed, — a  controversy  most  interesting  in 
itself,  and  one  which  brought  into  full  play  the  genius 
and  the  character  of  Livingston. 

One  would  hardly  expect  a  man  so  circumstanced, 
having  so  definite  an  object  before  him,  and  hoping 
to  gain  it  speedily  by  professional  exertions  alone,  and 
especially  a  man  so  qualified  to  profit  by  accurate  and 
profound  knowledge  of  all  the  intricacies  of  the  system 
of  English  legal  practice,  to  give  himself  much  concern 


LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

to  exclude  that  system  from  Louisiana,  or  in  favor  of  any 
project  for  a  radical  change  and  simplification  of  pro 
ceedings  at  law,  to  enure  only  to  the  advantage  of  the 
community  which  he  intended  as  soon  as  should  be  possi 
ble  to  leave.  But  Livingston  was  one  of  those  lawyers  — 
a  class  never  anywhere  numerous  enough,  I  am  afraid  — 
who  feel  that  they  are  a  responsible  part  of  the  court  in 
which  they  practise,  who  believe  their  vocation  to  be  to 
assist  in  the  administration  of  justice,  and  who  devote 
their  exertions  primarily  to  that  duty,  and  then  to  the 
interests  of  their  clients. 

In  the  November  following  his  arrival  at  New  Orleans 
he  evinced  his  habitual  subordination  of  private  interest 
to  public  good  in  a  memorable  manner.  The  recent 
cession  of  Louisiana,  which  had  brought  the  territory  un 
der  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  gave  rise  to 
a  grave  question  in  the  courts,  whether  the  clause  in  that 
instrument  providing  for  trial  by  jury,  and  requiring  the 
reexamination,  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States,  of  any 
fact  so  tried  to  be  according  to  the  rules  of  the  common 
law,  had  not,  at  one  stroke,  imposed  upon  Louisiana  the 
whole  system  of  English  legal  practice,  unknown  and 
repugnant  as  it  was  to  a  vast  majority  of  her  inhabitants. 
If  this  question  had  been  decided  in  the  affirmative,  of 
course  the  lawyers  who  had  emigrated  thither  from 
common-law  States  would  have  brought  their  peculiar 
knowledge  to  an  excellent  market ;  and  not  one  of  them 
was  equally  qualified  with  Livingston  to  make  much  of 
such  an  advantage.  The  bar  arrayed  itself  into  two 
parties  upon  this  question,  and  a  cause  was  made  up  ex 
pressly  to  obtain  a  full  discussion  and  judicial  settlement 
of  the  point.  Mr.  Livingston  was  selected  as  the  lead 
ing  champion  of  those  who  contended,  that,  although  the 
Federal  Constitution  had  brought  in  the  trial  by  jury, 


EMIGRATION   TO    NEW   ORLEANS.  HJ 

and  made  obligatory  the  observance  of  common-law  rules 
in  appellate  proceedings  in   the   Federal  courts,  yet  that 
the   courts   and   people   of  Louisiana  were    at   liberty,  in 
the   main   part   of  legal   practice,   to   follow  the  ways   to 
which  they  were  accustomed,  and  even  to  adopt,  if  they 
chose,  a  system  which  should  be  to  them  more  intelligible 
still.     I  have  not  found  anything  that  could  be  called  a 
report   of  the  argument  he   delivered   on   this   occasion ; 
but  it  produced  a  profound  impression,  and  was  long  re 
membered  as    a    masterpiece   of    forensic   reasoning   and 
eloquence.     The  decision  of  the  court  was  in  accordance 
with  the  ground  taken  by  Livingston.     Following  up  this 
success,  he  recommended  a  simplification  of  the  existing 
practice,  which  was   a   medley  of  the   civil  and   Spanish 
law.      The    suggestion    was    accepted,   and    the    task    of 
drawing  up  a  new  code  of  procedure  was  committed  to 
his  hands.     He  performed  the  work  promptly ;  and  when 
he   had   been   in   Louisiana  but   little   above   a  year,  the 
legislature  adopted  an  entire  system  of  practice  proposed 
and  framed  by  him.       It  is  embodied  in  an   act,  passed 
on   the    10th   of  April,   1805,   consisting   of   twenty-two 
sections,  and  extending  only  to  twenty-five  printed  pages. 
Under  it,  all  suits  were  commenced  by  petition,  addressed 
to  the  court  and  filed  with  the  clerk,  stating  the  names 
and  residence  of   the   parties,  the   cause   of  action,  with 
places   and    dates,   without    prolixity,   scandal,   or   imper 
tinence,   and   concluding  with   a  prayer   for   relief.     The 
defendant  was  brought   into   court   by  citation,  issued  by 
the  clerk  and  served  by  the  sheriff.     On  proof  of  service, 
and  of  failure  to  answer,  judgment  was  entered  in  favor 
of  the  plaintiff.     The  defendant  appearing  and  answering, 
either   party  could    demand  a  jury.       Either   plaintiff  or 
defendant  might   propose   written    interrogatories    to    the 
other,  which  the  latter  was  bound  to  answer.     The  whole 


118 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 


machinery  of  attachments,  holding  to  bail,  execution,  re 
view  of  trials,  amendments,  compulsory  attendance  of 
witnesses  and  their  examination,  fines,  references  of  in 
tricate  accounts,  and  the  several  writs  known  to  the  com 
mon  law,  were  all  provided  for  in  the  act. 

This  was  certainly  the  shortest  and  simplest  code  of 
procedure  which  had  existed  since  very  primitive  days. 
The  professional  reader  will  discern,  in  the  above  out 
line  of  it,  a  clear  resemblance  between  its  leading  features 
and  those  of  some  much  later  and  more  elaborate  systems 
of  practice.  I  have  been  assured  by  an  aged  and  eminent 
lawyer  and  judge  from  Louisiana,  that  its  practical  work 
ing  was  better  than  that  of  any  of  the  systems  with  which 
he  had  been  acquainted.* 

The    administration    of  justice    in    Louisiana,    at    this 


*  A   quarter   of  a   century  later, 

Mr.  Livingston,  in  a  letter  to  Jere 
my  Bentham,  gave  the  following 
reminiscences  of  this  short  code  of 
procedure  :  — • 

"  A  simple  system  was  substituted, 
based  upon  the  plan  of  requiring  each 
party  to  state,  in  intelligible  language, 
the  cause  of  complaint  and  the  grounds 
of  defence.  I  comprised  it  in  a  sin 
gle  law  of  a  few  pages  ;  and  al 
though,  from  its  novelty,  many  ques 
tions  may  be  naturally  supposed  to 
arise  under  it,  before  the  court  and 
suitors  become  accustomed  to  its  pro 
visions,  yet  our  books  of  reports,  from 
1808  to  1823,  contain  fewer  cases 
depending  on  disputed  points  of  prac 
tice  than  occurred  in  a  single  year, 
1803,  in  New  York,  where  they  pro 
ceed  according  to  the  English  law, 
which  has  been  in  a  train  of  settle 
ments  by  adjudication  so  many  hun 
dred  years.  An  anecdote  to  exem 
plify  this  may  not  be  unacceptable 
to  you.  When  I  was  pursuing  my 
profession  at  New  Orleans,  a  young 
gentleman  from  one  of  the  common- 
law  States  came  there.  He  had  been 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  his  own  State, 


and  was,  of  course,  entitled  to  admis 
sion  in  ours,  if  found  by  examination 
sufficiently  versed  in  our  laws  ;  he 
had  studied  them,  and  was  ready  to 
undergo  the  examination,  but  ex 
pressed  to  me  his  regret  that  a  long 
time  must  elapse  before  he  could 
make  himself  master  of  the  routine  of 
practice,  with  which,  in  our  system, 
he  was  entirely  unacquainted,  and, 
asking  to  be  admitted  into  my  office 
until  that  could  be  effected,  requested 
me,  with  much  solicitude,  to  tell  in 
what  period  I  thought  he  might, 
with  great  diligence,  be  enabled  to 
understand  the  rules  of  practice,  so 
difficult  to  be  acquired  according  to 
the  common  law.  I  answered  that 
it  was  not  very  easy  to  calculate  to 
an  hour,  but  as  he  was  engaged  to 
dine  with  me  the  next  day,  at  four, 
I  thought  I  could  initiate  him  in  all 
the  mysteries  of  the  practice  before 
we  sat  down  to  dinner ;  nor  was  there 
any  exaggeration  in  the  statement. 
What  will  your  articled  clerks,  tied 
for  seven  years  to  an  attorney's  desk, 
say  to  this  ?  "  —  Works  of  Bentham, 
edited  by  Bowring,  vol.  xi.  page 
52. 


EMIGRATION    TO    NEW    ORLEANS. 


119 


period,  was  attended  with  some  of  the  inconveniences 
which  interrupted  the  business  at  Babel.  The  records 
of  the  courts  were  kept  in  the  English  language.  The 
process  and  pleadings  were  written  and  the  proceedings 
conducted  primarily  in  English.  But  it  was  often  ne 
cessary,  and  it  was  the  constant  practice,  to  translate  the 
pleadings  and  afterwards  all  the  evidence  into  French, 
Spanish,  or  German,  and  sometimes  into  all  these,  in 
order  to  reach  the  comprehension  of  the  whole  jury.  A 
sworn  interpreter  was  attached  to  the  court,  competent  to 
speak  all  these  languages.  No  advocate  often  attempted  to 
address  a  jury  in  any  but  his  mother  tongue.  So  it  was 
the  common  custom  to  employ  at  least  two  advocates  on 
the  same  side,  who  followed  each  other,  each  in  his  native 
language. 

Mr.  Livingston  understood  all  these  languages  perfectly 
when  spoken  by  others,  and  spoke  them  himself,  —  the 
French  fluently  and  clearly,  Spanish  and  German  not  so 
easily  or  so  well.  I  have  conversed  with  a  gentleman 
who  distinctly  remembers  hearing  him  argue  more  than 
one  cause,  but  not  many,  in  French.  These  were  simple, 
ordinary,  and  perhaps  unimportant  cases.  He  would  not, 
as  my  informant  believes,  have  made  the  attempt  in  any 
other. 

Mr.  Livingston  was  always  a  zealous  member  of  the 
fraternity  of  Masons.  He  had  held  a  high  office  in  the 
order  at  New  York,  and  soon  after  becoming  a  citizen  of 
New  Orleans,  was  chosen  to  preside  over  the  Louisiana 
Lodge,  then  newly  organized.  At  its  first  meeting,  he,  in 
an  eloquent  address,  consecrated  its  hall,  as  a  Temple  to 
Harmony  and  Virtue.  He  referred  to  the  past  history 
and  present  objects  of  the  Masonic  order,  and  defended 
its  principles,  and  even  its  mysteries,  as  furnishing  some 
antidote  against  the  evils  of  partisan  rage  and  personal 


120  LIFE  °F   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

discord.  The  original  notes  from  which  he  spoke  on  this 
occasion  are  now  lying  before  me.  I  quote  from  them 
the  following  passage,  in  order  to  relate  a  singular  and 
immediate  effect  which  its  delivery  produced  :  — 

"  My  brethren,  have  you  searched  your  hearts  1  Do 
you  find  there  no  lurking  animosity  against  a  brother] 
Have  you  had  the  felicity  never  to  have  cherished,  or  are 
you  so  happy  as  to  have  banished  all  envy  at  his  pros 
perity,  all  malicious  joy  at  his  misfortunes  ?  If  you  find 
this  is  the  result  of  your  scrutiny,  enter  with  confidence 
the  sanctuary  of  union.  But  if  the  examination  discovers 
either  rankling  jealousy  or  hatred  long  concealed,  or  even 
unkindness  or  offensive  pride,  I  entreat  you,  defile  not 
the  altar  of  Friendship  with  your  unhallowed  offering ; 
but,  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  '  Go,  be  reconciled  to 
thy  brother,  and  then  offer  thy  gift.' ' 

When  the  orator  had  feelingly  and  impressively  pro 
nounced  the  last  of  these  sentences,  he  was  interrupted 
by  a  movement  of  two  men  in  the  audience  immediately 
before  him,  who  at  that  instant,  with  mutual  sobs,  rushed 
into  each  other's  arms.  They  were  veritable  brothers, 
who,  several  years  before,  had  become  embroiled,  and 
had  not  spoken  together  since.  "  No  triumph  at  the 
bar  or  in  the  tribune,"  said  Livingston  afterwards, 
"  could  be  worth  the  satisfaction  I  felt  at  that  moment." 

Mr.  Livingston's  best  successes  at  the  bar  were  ac 
complished  by  hard  and  direct  blows.  The  truth  could 
scarcely  escape  his  search,  and  his  method  of  making  it 
appear  plain  to  others  was  simple  and  usually  concise.  A 
contemporary  writer  said  that  he  was  "  as  lucid  as  day 
light."  A  few  propositions  which,  ordinarily,  no  one  was 
prepared  to  gainsay,  would  lead  straight  to  the  conclusion 
he  sought  to  enforce.  This  method  in  advocacy,  coupled 
with  a  strong  conviction  of  being  in  the  right,  gave  him 


EMIGRATION  TO  NEW  ORLEANS. 

at  times  great  power.  But  the  effrontery  of  deliberate 
sophistry  he  did  not  possess ;  and  if  in  the  progress  of  a 
trial  he  discovered  that  lie  was  clearly  on  the  wrong  sj(le, 
he  was  thenceforth  sometimes  positively  feeble.  To  this 
I  have  the  testimony  of  those  who  have  witnessed  the 
change  which  came  over  him  on  such  occasions. 

But  there  was  no  question  about  his  early  supremacy 
at  the  bar  of  New  Orleans.  The  following-  tribute  to  his 
superiority  —  rather  too  warm  to  be  literally  translated 
into  English  —  he  received,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  day 
upon  which  he  had  spoken  against  the  sweeping  intro 
duction  of  common-law  practice  into  Louisiana,  as  an 
ordinary  business  communication  from  one  who  was 
perhaps  better  qualified  than  any  other  man  there  for 
a  professional  rivalship  with  him :  — 

"13  Novembre,  1804. 

"  MCWSIEUR  :  M.  Alexandra  doit  venir  me  prendre, 
ce  soir,  pour  nous  reunir,  chez  vous,  sur  les  7  heures,  afin 
de  determiner  le  parti  que  nous  avons  a  prendre  relative- 
ment  a  la  reponse  a  faire  dans  1'action  intentee  par  St. 
Julien  contre  Declouet,  Duralde,  et  autres. 

"  Serez  vous  dispose  a  cette  conference  1  Ayez  la  bonte 
de  me  le  faire  dire. 

"  Jusques  la  permettez  moi  que  je  vous  paie  le  tribut 
de  felicitations  que  merite  la  grande  habilite  avec  laquelle 
vous  avez  traite,  ce  matin,  la  grande  question  de  com 
mon  law. 

"  Vous  y  avez  deploye  une  eloquence  rare ;  j'avoue  que 
je  n'ai  jamais  ete  plus  emu  que  par  les  images  frappantes 
que  vous  avez  faites  de  tons  les  inconveniens  qui  resul- 
teraient  de  cette  grande  innovation,  si  elle  avait  lieu. 

"  Vous  avez  ete  profond  depuis  le  commencement  jusqu'a 
la  fin  de  votre  argument  ou,  pour  mieux  dire,  de  votre 
16 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

discours  ;   mais  vous  avez  ete  grand,  sublime,  admirable, 
etonnant,  dans  votre  peroraison. 

"  J'en  suis  encore  plein  de  la  plus  vive  et  de  la  plus 
sainte  emotion. 

"  Heureux  le  peuple  dont  les  interets  seront  defendus 
par  un  homme  tel  que  vous ! 

"J'aurais  desire,  et  je  desirerais  que  tous  les  Louisi- 
annais  eussent  ete  presents  a  cette  importante  decision ; 
ils  eussent  ete  bieu  ingrats,  s'ils  n 'eussent  pas  partage 
tous  les  sentimens  d'estime  et  de  reconnaissance  que 
vous  professe  "  1'humble 

"E.  MAZUREAU." 

Mazureau  was  the  leading  counsel  against  Livingston 
in  a  severe  and  important  litigation  soon  to  be  referred 
to, — a  litigation  destined  to  exert  a  marked  and  perma 
nent  influence  on  the  career  of  the  latter. 

It  is  said  that  there  were  several  eminent  lawyers  of 
the  city  who  did  not  cordially  enjoy  Livingston's  acknowl 
edged  superiority,  and  who  would  have  been  glad  to  have 
him  out  of  their  way.  It  is  certain  that  he  encountered 
very  zealous  and  determined  professional  opposition  in 
his  endeavor  to  attain  sudden  fortune.  But  his  temper 
was  so  mild  and  so  genial  that  it  was  impossible  for 
any  one  to  have  a  personal  dispute  with  him  growing 
out  of  professional  intercourse.  Even  those  to  whom 
was  ascribed  the  greatest  jealousy  of  his  position,  con 
sidered  his  presence  indispensable  at  their  social  reun 
ions.  There  he  was  always  the  soul  of  gayety  and 
good-humor.  His  light  jokes,  stories,  and  puns  were 
inexhaustible,  and  were  given  with  peculiar  spirit  and 
dramatic  effect.  He  was  accustomed  to  act  out  the 
parts  of  the  persons  of  his  anecdotes,  rising  and  illus 
trating  the  matter,  with  glee  of  a  contagious  sort.  There 


EMIGRATION    TO    NEW    ORLEANS. 

was  no  satire  in  his  conversation,  no  sharpness  in  his 
wit;  the  charm  of  his  society  was  in  a  whole-souled. 
laughing1  humor,  a  perfect  freedom  from  the  airs  of  offen 
sive  egotism,  an  ahsolute  amiahility.  Judge  Carleton, 
in  giving  the  writer,  after  the  lapse  of  half  a  century,  his 
personal  reminiscences  of  the  occasions  just  mentioned, 
chuckled  over  the  memory  of  Livingston's  pleasantries. 
On  heing  requested  to  call  to  mind  some  samples  of  the 
anecdotes  referred  to,  he  said  that  nothing  could  be  more 
volatile  than  the  substance  of  these  anecdotes.  The  man 
ner  of  telling  them  was  the  main  thing  about  them.  He 
could  remember  but  three.  One  was  that  of  Livingston's 
first  lesson  in  eating  pork  at  Esopus  ;  another  was  a  live 
ly  description  of  the  process  of  making  sausages  —  which 
he  called  rollichers  —  by  the  farmers  of  Dutchess  County; 
and  the  third  was  a  story  running  as  follows  :  A  traveller 
stopped  at  an  inn,  near  Rhinebeck,  early  in  the  morn 
ing.  The  landlady,  with  her  ladle,  was  salting  some  but 
ter  which  had  just  been  churned.  She  was  a  snuff-taker, 
and  a  quantity  of  the  dust  had  settled  at  the  tip  of  her 
nose,  threatening  to  drop  into  the  butter.  She  inquired 
of  the  guest,  "  Do  you  stay  to  breakfast "?  "  "  Madam," 
he  replied,  "  as  it  may  fall  out." 

Mr.  Livingston  always  took  much  interest  in  mechan 
ical  inventions,  and,  even  when  most  pressed  by  profes 
sional  duties  or  personal  cares,  found  some  leisure  to 
study  the  principles  of  mechanics,  with  a  view  to  dis 
covery  and  improvement.  Often,  side  by  side  with  the 
Pandects,  and  among  his  bundles  of  papers,  one  might 
see  some  small  machine  made  for  the  purpose  of  illus 
trating  a  novel  idea.  A  carpenter  who  lived  near  him 
in  New  Orleans,  and  with  whom  he  maintained  the  most 
friendly  relations,  usually  had  in  hand  some  model  under 
his  direction.  "  It  is  singular,"  this  man  used  to  say, 


OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

"  that  a  lawyer  should  understand  my  trade  so  well  as 
Mr.  Livingston  does ;  I  know  nothing  in  the  world  of 
his." 

An  ordinary  acquaintance  would  not  have  discerned 
that  Livingston,  at  this  period,  was  otherwise  than  con 
tented  in  his  new  home.  But  all  his  occupation  and  all 
his  prospects  of  early  success  could  not  repress  his  in 
ward  anxiety  to  return  to  his  family  and  native  State. 
He  counted  the  three  or  four  years  which  he  believed 
that  he  probably  must  remain  absent  from  both,  and 
sometimes  shuddered  to  think  of  the  possibility  that  the 
time  might  be  considerably,  perhaps  indefinitely  extended. 
At  this  period  he  endured,  in  fact,  all  the  sorrows  of  an 
uncertain  though  voluntary  exile. 

But  for  this  homesickness  he  presently  found  a  solace 
in  his  acquaintance  and  marriage,  on  the  3d  of  June, 
1805,  with  Madame  Louise  Moreau  de  Lassy,  the  young 
widow  of  a  gentleman  from  Jamaica.  The  previous  his 
tory  of  this  lady  —  with  whom  all  the  remainder  of  his 
life  was  to  be  passed  in  entire  and  mutual  devotion  — 
was  eventful  and  interesting.  Her  maiden  name  was 
Davezac  de  Castera.  Of  her  family  I  have  seen  an  ac 
count  from  the  pen  of  M.  Armand  D'Avezac,*  one  of 
her  relations,  still  living  in  Paris.  This  account  shows 
the  lineage  to  have  been  long  and  honorable.  Mrs.  Liv 
ingston's  more  immediate  ancestors  had  emigrated  from 
France  to  St.  Domingo,  where  they  possessed  much 
wealth  and  influence  before  the  revolution  in  that  island. 
Tn  that  bloody  affair,  her  father,  two  brothers,  and  the 

*  The  correct  and  original  orthog-  in   various  parts  of  the  world.     For 

raphy  of  the  name,  the  apostrophe  be-  a  notice  upon  him  and  his  writings 

ing  disused  only  by  the  members  of  <vide  (under  the  title  "  Avezac-Ma- 

the  family  in  America.     M.  Armand  caya,   Marie-Armand-Pascal    D' ") 

D'Avezac  is  an  eminent  geographer,  Didionna'ire  Universel  des  Contem- 

author  of  several  works  of  merit,  and  porains,  par  Vapereau,  Seconde  Edi- 

member  of  many  scientific  societies  tion,  page  77. 


EMIGRATION    TO   NEW   ORLEANS. 

aged  grandmother  met  their  fate,  while  her  mother,  her 
self,  a  widow  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  her  hrother  Auguste, 
afterwards  Major  Davezac,  and  her  infant  sister,  who  sub 
sequently  became  the  wife  of  Judge  Carle  ton,  of  Louisiana, 
narrowly  escaped  massacre,  reached  the  United  States  by 
different  vessels,  and  were  afterwards  reunited  at  New  Or 
leans.  From  affluence  they  were  reduced  to  poverty.  It 
was  in  these  circumstances  that  the  acquaintance  between 
her  and  Mr.  Livingston  was  formed,  and  their  alliance 
contracted.  It  is  said  that  at  this  period  her  beauty  was 
extraordinary.  Slender,  delicate,  and  wonderfully  grace 
ful,  she  possessed  a  brilliant  intellect  and  an  uncommon 
spirit.  We  shall  hereafter  have  occasion  to  see  that  she 
had  all  the  qualities  requisite  to  appreciate,  to  stimulate, 
and  in  a  great  degree  to  guide  such  a  man  as  Livingston. 

Yet  he  continued  to  chafe  under  the  necessity  of  pro 
longing  the  absence  from  his  children  and  his  native  State. 
On  the  10th  of  August,  two  months  after  his  marriage,  he 
wrote  to  his  sister,  Mrs.  Tillotson,  — "  I  have  now,  indeed, 
again  a  home,  and  a  wife  who  gives  it  all  the  charms  that 
talents,  good  temper,  and  affection  can  afford;  but  that 
home  is  situated  at  a  distance  from  my  family,  and  in  a 
climate  to  which  I  cannot,  without  imprudence,  bring  my 
children." 

From  his  first  appearance  in  the  courts  of  Louisiana 
he  had  stood  among  the  foremost  members  of  the  bar  ; 
he  was  now  the  first  lawyer  among  the  foremost  there. 
His  fireside  was  a  happy  one ;  and  to  outward  appearance 
all  circumstances  concurred  to  reconcile  him  to  a  perma 
nent  residence  where  he  was. 

Yet  in  his  heart,  as  we  have  just  seen,  he  sighed  for 
New  York  and  for  his  old  associations  ;  and  everything 
seemed  to  favor  the  early  accomplishment  of  his  wishes. 
His  income  was  increasing  yearly,  and  he  had  acquired, 


126  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

besides  the  Batture,  several  valuable  pieces  of  real  estate, 
from  which  he  had  large  hopes  of  soon  realizing  his 
main  object.  Some  of  these  acquisitions  he  had  already 
disposed  of  advantageously,  and  one  of  them,  an  exten 
sive  tract  of  land,  he  had  cleared  from  all  incumbrances, 
expecting  for  it  an  early  market  for  a  sum  sufficient  to 
enable  him  to  pay  his  debt  to  the  United  States  in  full, 
leaving  him  possessed  of  still  other  property,  enough  for 
the  foundation  of  a  competence,  if  not  a  fortune.  All 
within  three  years  from  his  first  landing,  a  stranger,  in 
Louisiana. 

But  obstacles  and  dangers  were  destined  now  to  beset 
him,  and  to  postpone  the  fulfilment  of  his  plan  for  a 
period  which  even  he  would  not  then  have  been  able  to 
contemplate  without  discouragement  and  dismay. 

In  the  first  place,  he  narrowly  escaped  a  ruinous,  if  not 
fatal  blow,  from  the  hands  of  General  James  Wilkinson, 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army  of  the  United  States. 
The  latter  had  been  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  him  dur 
ing  the  first  months  of  his  residence  at  New  Orleans, 
and  then  leaving  for  New  York  and  Washington,  had 
thence  written  to  him  letters  expressing  the  highest  ad 
miration  and  warmest  regard.  Returning,  he  reached 
New  Orleans  in  November,  1806.  Mr.  Livingston 
called  upon  him  on  the  day  of  his  arrival.  The  visit 
was  returned,  and  the  General  supped  at  the  house  of 
his  friend.  During  that  evening,  the  latter  mentioned 
casually  to  his  guest  that  an  order  of  Aaron  Burr  for 
money  had  been  presented  to  him  by  Dr.  Bollman,  a 
short  time  before,  to  his  surprise,  as  he  could  not  con 
jecture  how  Bollman,  whose  circumstances  he  had  under 
stood  were  narrow  and  embarrassed,  should  have  such 
a  sum  due  to  him  from  Burr.  The  fact  thus  mentioned 
seemed  to  make  no  impression  on  the  mind  of  the 


EMIGRATION    TO    NEW    ORLEANS. 

General,  who  continued  to  treat  Mr.  Livingston  in  a 
cordial  manner,  both  then  and  at  several  visits  which 
afterwards  passed  between  them. 

This  was  just  after  Wilkinson,  having  encouraged  the 
development  of  Burr's  mysterious  scheme,  deeply  soiling 
his  own  hands  with  it,  as  it  would  seem,  had  concluded 
to  betray  the  scheme  and  its  author.  He  had  lately  com 
municated  his  knowledge  and  suspicions  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  from  whom  he  was  now  receiving 
orders  of  a  plenary  kind,  justifying  him  in  vigorous  dis 
cretionary  measures  for  stifling  the  dreaded  conspiracy 
and  bringing  to  punishment  all  who  should  be  found 
among  the  conspirators. 

His  first  step,  at  New  Orleans,  was  the  military  arrest 
and  removal  of  Dr.  Bollman  and  two  other  persons,  — 
a  proceeding  which,  as  soon  as  it  became  known,  startled 
and  agitated  the  community.  The  indignation  of  a  por 
tion  of  the  people,  and  particularly  of  members  of  the 
bar,  was  great.  Mr.  Livingston  having  but  a  very  slight 
acquaintance  with  Bollman,  and  none  at  all  with  the 
other  persons  arrested,  though  he  shared  strongly  in  the 
general  feeling  of  the  lawyers  on  the  subject,  did  not 
feel  called  upon  to  take  any  steps  for  the  release  of  the 
prisoners.  But  a  younger  member  of  the  profession, 
Mr.  Alexander,  prepared  an  affidavit  of  the  fact  of  the 
arrest,  and  applied  to  one  of  the  judges  for  the  allowance 
of  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  The  judge  refused  to  grant 
it  then,  but  directed  Mr.  Alexander  to  make  the  motion 
in  open  court.  The  latter  thereupon  applied  to  Mr.  Liv 
ingston,  to  appear  with  and  assist  him  in  presenting  the 
motion.  He  complied  with  the  request,  and  the  writ  was 
allowed  by  the  court.  On  the  return  day  of  the  writ, 
a  large  audience  was  assembled  in  court,  when  General 
Wilkinson  declared,  in  writing  and  in  an  oral  speech, 


128  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

that  he  had  arrested  Dr.  Boll  man  on  a  charge  of  mis- 
prision  of  treason  against  the  United  States,  and  had 
taken  measures  to  secure  his  safe  delivery  to  the  Presi 
dent  at  Washington  ;  "  that  he  had  taken  this  step  for 
the  national  safety,  then  menaced  to  its  base  by  a  lawless 
band  of  traitors  associated  under  Aaron  Burr,  whose 
accomplices  were  extended  from  New  York  to  New  Or 
leans."  He  proceeded  to  throw  out  hints  calculated  to 
excite  in  the  minds  of  those  present  apprehensions  of  im 
minent  danger  from  an  armed  invasion  of  the  territory 
under  Burr,  whose  adherents,  he  said,  were  numerous 
in  the  city,  including  two  counsellors  of  that  court !  The 
speaker  then  cast  his  eyes  slowly  round  the  bar,  seem 
ing  to  enjoy  the  suspense  which  the  members  suffered 
till  he  inquired  if  Mr.  Alexander  were  in  court.  Mr. 
Alexander  being  absent,  the  General  requested  that  he 
might  be  sent  for  and  committed  to  close  custody,  as  he 
intended,  before  leaving  court,  to  prefer  against  him  a 
charge  of  high  treason.  He  proceeded :  "  As  to  Mr. 
Livingston,  I  have  evidence  that  Dr.  Bollman  brought 
a  draft  upon  him  for  two  thousand  dollars  and  upwards, 
from  Colonel  Burr,  which  be  paid."  The  General  then 
read  part  of  an  affidavit,  purporting  to  be  made  by  one 
Rodgers,  the  substance  of  which  was,  that,  nearly  a  year 
before,  Rodgers  had  heard  one  Keene  —  a  person  who 
had  been  long  absent  from  the  country  —  say  that  there 
were  a  number  of  men  who  had  agreed  to  undertake  an 
expedition  to  Mexico,  and  on  being  urged  to  declare  who 
these  men  were,  had  answered,  "  There's  Livingston." 
But  the  affidavit  added,  that  Rodgers  had  at  the  time 
"  thought  Keene  so  little  in  earnest,  that  the  circumstance 
had  not  occurred  to  him  until  within  a  few  days  past." 

Upon   this   statement,  the  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
army,  and  lately  demonstrative  friend  of  Mr.  Livingston, 


EMIGRATION    TO    NEW  ORLEANS. 


129 


held  forth  to  the  court  and  the  people  assembled,  in  justi 
fication  of  the  arrests  already  made,  and  of  others  which 
he  might  yet  have  to  make  ;  declaring,  amongst  other 
things,  that  "  desperate  cases  require  desperate  remedies ;  " 
that  "  it  is  sometimes  necessary  to  cut  off  a  limb  to 
preserve  the  body,"  to  "  lop  off  a  rotten  branch  to  save 
the  tree."  He  finished  by  asking  the  court  that  his  oath 
might  be  taken  to  the  truth  of  the  charges  he  had  ex 
hibited.  He  raised  his  hand  as  if  to  have  the  oath  ad 
ministered,  when  the  court  mildly  suggested  the  propriety 
of  reducing  the  statement  to  writing.  He  then  hesitated. 
One  of  the  judges  offered  him  a  seat  at  his  side  on  the 
bench,  and  proposed  himself  to  take  down  the  charges 
and  testimony.  This  the  General  declined ;  upon  which 
the  court  suggested  that  one  of  the  judges  would  wait 
on  "  His  Excellency,"  *  at  any  time  that  might  be  con 
venient  to  him,  to  take  his  deposition.  This  offer  the 
conquering  hero  condescended  to  accept,  and  retired  from 
the  bar,  after  receiving  the  thanks  of  the  presiding  judge 
for  his  communication,  and  an  apology  for  the  trouble 
the  business  had  caused  him. 

But  just  as  Wilkinson  was  about  to  withdraw,  Mr. 
Livingston,  who,  till  then,  during  this  shocking  scene 
of  judicial  sycophancy,  had  sat  in  melancholy  silence, 
arose  to  demand  and  then  to  entreat  of  the  court  that  his 
accuser  should  not  be  allowed  to  leave  the  bar  without 
substantiating  his  charge  upon  oath,  in  order  that,  if  it 
should  appear  that  he  was  guilty,  he  might  be  imme 
diately  committed  to  prison,  and  if  not,  that  he  should 
not  be  compelled  to  go  home  loaded  with  the  suspicion 
of  crime.  The  appeal  was  fruitless,  and  the  General 
went  his  way,  promising,  however,  to  make  good  the 
charge  on  the  following  day. 

*  Wilkinson  was  Governor  of  Upper  Louisiana. 
17 


130  LJFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

Mr,  Livingston  now  demanded  an  opportunity,  before 
the  court  and  audience,  on  the  spot,  to  meet  the  accusation, 
so  far  as  it  had  been  made  specific.  After  some  difficulty 
and  hesitation  this  request  was  granted;  and  he  thereupon 
made  a  full  and  simple  statement  of  all  the  circumstances 
connected  with  the  draft  of  Burr,  which  he  produced  and 
read.  Among  the  private  debts  which  the  transfer  of 
all  his  property,  before  leaving  New  York,  had  left  un 
provided  for,  was  a  claim  held  by  the  firm  of  Dunham  & 
Davis,  upon  which  judgment  had  been  entered  against 
him.  The  judgment  had  been  assigned  to  Aaron  Burr, 
and  Mr.  Livingston  had  once  or  twice  been  called  upon 
to  pay  the  debt,  before  it  was  possible  for  him  to  do 
so.  The  draft  given  by  Burr  to  Dr.  Bollman  ran  as 
follows :  — 

"  DR.  SIR  :  Doctor  Bollman  will  receive  whatever 
you  may  be  disposed  to  pay  him  on  my  account,  and 
will  give  a  discharge  on  payment  of  fifteen  hundred 
dollars.  A  part,  at  least,  of  this  sum  will  be  necessary 
to  him  ;  but  I  should  not  have  troubled  you  if  I  could 
have  paid  him  from  other  resources. 

"A.  BURR. 

"  Philadelphia,  26th  July,  1806. 
"  To  EDW.  LIVINGSTON,  Esqre." 

When  this  paper  was  presented  by  Dr.  Bollman,  Mr. 
Livingston  was  entirely  unprepared  to  pay  the  sum  de 
manded.  But  he  had  recently  sold  a  plantation,  receiv 
ing  the  purchaser's  obligations,  not  yet  due,  in  part  pay 
ment.  After  two  months'  delay  and  negotiation,  he  had 
arranged  with  this  debtor  to  accept  his  draft  for  the 
amount  required  to  satisfy  that  held  by  Bollman  ;  and 
so  the  latter  was  taken  up,  and  Bollman  received  the 
money. 


EMIGRATION    TO   NEW   ORLEANS. 

As  to  the  matters  of  hearsay  vaguely  set  out  in  the 
affidavit  of  Rodgers,  Mr.  Livingston  made  a  most  impres 
sive  declaration  that  he  was  utterly  ignorant  of  any  of  the 
plans  which  it  was  said  Colonel  Burr  was  executing, 
either  for  dismembering  the  Union  or  contravening  its 
laws,  except  what  he  had  heard  from  the  newspapers,  the 
communication  of  General  Wilkinson,  or  public  report ; 
and  that  he  had  never  held  any  communication,  either 
written  or  verbal,  with  Colonel  Burr,  or  any  other  per 
son  whom  he  knew  or  suspected  to  be  concerned  with 
him  in  the  subject  of  those  plans. 

The  effect  of  this  prompt  and  spirited  self-defence, 
upon  those  who  listened  as  well  as  upon  his  accuser, 
was  afterwards  recounted  by  Livingston  in  the  follow 
ing  language  :  — 

"  There  is  a  force  in  the  language  of  truth,  there 
is  a  commanding  aspect  in  the  looks  of  innocence,  that 
can  rarely  be  assumed  by  falsehood  or  guilt;  and  I  am 
persuaded  few  if  any  of  my  auditors  retired  with  im 
pressions  to  my  prejudice.  The  General  seems  to  have 
thought  so  too ;  for,  on  the  following  day,  when  I  went 
to  court  to  hear  the  charges  he  had  engaged  to  exhibit, 
I  met  a  gentleman  of  his  family,  who,  in  answer  to 
my  earnest  inquiry  whether  the  General's  affidavits  were 
prepared,  told  me  that  intelligence  had  arrived  which 
did  not  leave  him  leisure  to  attend  to  them,  and  that 
he  did  not  believe  they  would  that  day  be  produced. 
Seeing  my  extreme  chagrin  at  this  delay,  he  told  me 
he  was  persuaded  that  the  General  would  feel  much 
gratified,  if  I  could  exonerate  myself  from  the  charge  ; 
that  he  had  been  forced  into  the  accusation  by  imperious 
circumstances,  but  that  he  had  little  doubt,  if  I  could 
remove  his  suspicions  as  to  the  payment  of  the  money 
to  Bollman,  (which,  he  added,  was  the  principal  circum- 


132  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

stance,)  he  would  be  ready  to  do  me  ample  justice,  and 
concluded  by  suggesting  the  propriety  of  my  calling  on 
the  General.  This  I  refused  to  do,  but  said  that  I  would 
reflect  on  the  other  proposition ;  and  after  consulting 
with  some  friends,  I  determined  to  send  the  papers  I 
had  read  in  court,  with  some  others  which  I  was  sure 
must  remove  every  doubt  as  to  the  nature  of  the  trans 
action.  Meeting  tne  gentleman  shortly  after,  I  told  him 
my  determination  ;  and  he  appointed  an  hour  to  call  on 
me  for  the  documents,  and  expressed  a  joy  which  I  am 
sure  he  felt,  on  the  prospect  of  an  arrangement  that 
would  do  full  justice  to  my  character.  He  arrived  soon 
after  the  hour  appointed,  but  apologized  for  the  delay 
by  stating  that  he  had  since  been  to  the  General ;  that 
he  was  desirous  to  do  me  justice,  and  anxious  that  I 
should  exonerate  myself  from  the  charge,  but  that  it 
was  absolutely  necessary  he  should  see  me,  in  order  to 
show  some  papers  which  had  been  exhibited,  and  which 
I  understood  were  to  explain  the  reasons  why  he  had 
thought  himself  obliged  to  accuse  me ;  but  that  the  pay 
ment  of  the  money  to  Bollman  was  still  the  principal 
charge,  and  this  being  explained,  he  would  almost  ven 
ture  to  pledge  himself  that  General  Wilkinson  would 
appear  in  an  open  court,  to  be  called  at  his  request, 
and  make  any  statement  I  could  reasonably  desire,  to  re 
move  the  effect  of  his  charge.  The  idea  of  presenting 
myself  and  making  explanations  to  a  man  who  had  so 
cruelly  injured  me,  appeared,  at  first,  too  humiliating  to 
be  borne ;  but  the  pain  which  these  accusations  must 
give  to  my  friends  at  a  distance,  the  humiliating  cir 
cumstances  attending  a  newspaper  assertion  of  innocence, 
the  certainty  that  it  could  never  be  so  effectually  done 
as  by  the  mode  proposed,  and — shall  I  be  called  pusillan 
imous'?  when  I  add  —  the  fear  of  inevitable  ruin  to  my 


EMIGRATION    TO    NEW   ORLEANS.  133 

family  from  a  military  arrest  and  removal,  all  concurred 
to  produce  the  reluctant  assent,  which,  after  a  delay  of 
some  hours,  I  gave  to  the  proposition  of  calling  at  head 
quarters  in  company  with  a  friend.  Eight  in  the  even 
ing  was  the  hour  appointed.  The  gentleman  to  whom 
I  hefore  alluded  was  so  perfectly  persuaded  that  the 
visit  would  end  in  the  most  satisfactory  arrangement, 
and  expressed  so  friendly  a  pleasure  in  the  prospect,  that 
I  could  scarcely  believe  him  in  earnest,  when,  at  the  hour 
appointed,  with  a  mortification  he  did  not  attempt  to 
conceal,  he  met  me  on  the  gallery,  at  head-quarters,  with 
a  message,  '  that  the  General  had  just  received  a  letter 
which  determined  him  not  to  see  Mr.  Livingston,  or 
any  of  his  friends.'  This  cruel  insult,  added  to  the 
injuries  I  had  received,  made  me  feel  the  humiliation 
to  which  I  had  exposed  myself;  and  I  returned  home, 
with  the  full  persuasion  that  I  should  find  the  guard 
for  my  arrest  stationed  at  my  door." 

But  his  apprehensions  of  arrest  were  happily  not  re 
alized.  Alexander  was  seized,  and  hurried,  with  others, 
as  Bollman  had  been,  forcibly,  to  Washington,  where 
nothing  could  be  proved  against  them.  Mr.  Livingston, 
being  unmolested,  so  far  defied  the  military  tyrant  as 
to  make  an  ineffectual  attempt  to  rescue  Alexander  by 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  ;  and  he  published,  on  the  spot, 
an  address  to  the  people,  setting  forth  all  the  particulars 
of  the  transaction,  and  expressing  his  views  and  senti 
ments  concerning  it,  without  reserve  or  any  sign  of 
fear. 

When  he  returned  to  his  house  after  the  scene  in 
court,  in  which  the  accusation  of  Wilkinson  had  fallen 
suddenly  as  a  thunderbolt  upon  him,  his  young  wife, 
then  the  mother  of  their  only  child,  but  a  few  months 
old,  besought  him  earnestly  not  to  withhold  from  her 


134.  LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

any  part  of  his  confidence.  "  We  have  not  lived  long" 
together,"  she  said,  "  and  you  may  not  know  the  whole 
strength  of  my  character  or  of  my  affection.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  scheme  of  Burr,  if  you  have  had 
anything  to  do  with  it,  tell  me,  so  that  I  may  share 
your  thoughts  as  well  as  your  destiny."  His  response 
was  a  laugh  so  hearty  as  to  dispel  in  an  instant  from 
her  mind  any  shadow  of  fear  that  he  was  really  im 
plicated  in  the  mysterious  enterprise. 

In  the  obvious  characters  of  these  two  men,  — Wilkin 
son  and  Livingston,  —  upon  one  of  whom  Thomas  Jef 
ferson,  by  a  twofold  error,  was  now  deliberately  bestow 
ing  the  confidence  which  he  had  deliberately  withdrawn 
from  the  other,  there  is  a  good  illustration  of  the  prac 
tical  weakness  of  human  judgment.  And  the  mutability 
of  a  great  man's  judgment  is  still  more  manifest  in  the 
fact  that  Mr.  Jefferson,  though  then  in  the  decline  of 
life,  was  yet  to  live  long  enough  to  reverse  completely 
in  his  own  mind  the  double  misconception  under  which 
he  was  judging  and  acting  towards  both,  —  at  least,  as 
will  hereafter  appear,  towards  Livingston. 

Thus  a  grave  danger  was  fortunately  and  narrowly 
escaped.  The  imputation  was  disposed  of  thoroughly, 
and  no  damaging  effect  remained.  Wilkinson's  position 
at  New  Orleans  soon  became  ridiculous,  and  every  cloud 
seemed  lifted  from  the  prospects  of  Mr.  Livingston. 
The  object  of  his  most  ardent  desire  was  in  a  fair  way 
to  be  accomplished.  But  he  soon  had  to  encounter  a 
new  difficulty,  and  a  more  formidable  adversary,  —  a 
misfortune  not  so  alarming  as  the  one  just  avoided,  but 
many  times  more  vexatious. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE    BATTURE    CONTROVERSY. 

A  CONTROVERSY,  very  celebrated  in  its  day, 
which  took  place  between  Thomas  Jefferson,  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  and  Edward  Livingston,  citi 
zen  of  Louisiana,  relating  to  the  title  and  possession 
of  a  piece  of  ground  called  the  Batture  Ste.  Marie, 
was  one  of  the  most  interesting  mental  encounters  ever 
witnessed  anywhere.  There  was  every  circumstance  to 
make  it  so  in  the  relative  positions,  the  ability,  the  in 
terest,  and  the  temper  of  the  parties.  They  had  been 
attached  personal  friends ;  but  one  had  become  es 
tranged  in  consequence  of  the  misfortune,  which  he  also 
regarded  as  the  fault,  of  the  other.  In  politics,  one 
had  founded  a  sect  of  which  the  other  had,  in  .youth,  be 
come  a  disciple,  —  a  faith  from  which  the  latter  never 
swerved  during  a  long  life.  The  President  had  ap 
pointed  Mr.  Livingston  to  an  office,  implying  a  financial 
confidence  which,  he  felt,  had  been  disappointed ;  and 
Mr.  Jefferson's  charity  did  not  easily  cover  such  a 
case.  Besides,  the  then  recent  accusation  of  Wilkin 
son  had  doubtless  left  its  bad  impression  upon  his  mind. 
Being  thus  predisposed  to  view  in  the  least  favorable 
light  any  act  of  his  adversary  which  might  be  construed 
as  an  encroachment  upon  the  public  right,  he  was  led,  by 
the  first  representations  he  received  concerning  Mr.  Liv 
ingston's  Batture  enterprise,  into  an  opinion  which  turned 
out  to  be  mistaken ;  and  was  hurried,  by  his  zeal,  upon 


IS6  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

a  course  which  he  finally,  with  good  reason,  regretted. 
In  this  mood  he  gave  to  the  controversy,  both  while  in 
office  and  for  a  period  after  his  retirement,  the  best  re 
sources  of  his  mind  and  energy ;  studying  for  himself  the 
most  recondite  applicable  topics  of  the  civil  and  the  com 
mon  law,  and  of  the  French  and  Spanish  systems,  mar 
shalling  the  facts  with  all  his  skill,  for  the  use  of  counsel, 
and  finally  printing,  for  his  own  justification  before  the 
public  opinion  of  the  country,  careful  and  repeated  edi 
tions  of  a  most  elaborate  and  finished  argument,  built 
of  these  labors.  With  his  official  vantage,  a  concurring 
Cabinet  and  Congress  behind  him,  and  popular  prejudices 
favoring  his  action,  an  ordinary  antagonist  he  would  have 
easily  annihilated,  and  might  himself  have  remained  for 
life  unconscious  of  his  error ;  as  it  was,  he  must  have 
concluded  at  last  that  he  had  been  fairly  dislodged  from 
a  false  position  in  a  manner  more  effective  than  tender. 
His  blows  were  indeed  aimed  at  a  wounded  giant,  who, 
feeling  that  he  was  in  the  right,  and  that  his  own  escape 
from  temporal  ruin  was  staked  upon  the  result  of  the 
conflict,  exerted  to  the  utmost  every  muscle  arid  nerve 
to  beat  back  the  assailant. 

When  two  champions  of  such  figure  engage  with  de 
liberation  and  spirit  in  a  strife  of  this  sort,  all  men  are 
pugilistic  enough  to  be  refreshed  by  the  spectacle.  The 
combat  here  attracted  and  held  public  attention  for  years, 
in  an  unusual  degree ;  both  combatants  in  the  course  of 
it  freely  appealing,  in  print,  for  moral  support  directly 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States.  Various  volumes 
of  law-reports  are  largely  given  to  the  arguments  of 
counsel  and  decisions  of  the  courts  at  different  stages 
of  the  proceedings  ;  and  elaborate  and  voluminous  re 
views  of  the  controversy  by  the  two  principals  passed 
through  more  than  one  edition.  I  propose  to  give  in 


THE    BATTURE    CONTROVERSY. 

this  chapter  a  concise  account  of  the  subject  and  man 
ner  of  the  dispute. 

The  region  bordering"  upon  both  sides  of  the  Missis 
sippi  River,  for  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  above 
its  mouth,  is  a  low,  alluvial  country,  apparently  created 
upon  the  sea  by  annual  deposits  of  the  upper  country's 
soil  brought  down  during  many  ages  by  the  turbid 
stream.  As  in  other  countries  thus  formed,  the  imme 
diate  natural  banks  of  the  river  are  higher  than  the 
general  surface  of  the  ground  behind  them.  The  ordi 
nary  height  of  the  water  in  the  channel  is  but  a  few  feet 
lower  than  the  top  of  the  natural  banks.  During  half 
of  every  year,  the  rains  and  melted  snows  of  the  vast 
region  which  the  river  drains  swell  its  current  towards 
the  mouth  to  a  height  above  that  of  the  natural  banks, 
so  that  the  whole  of  the  lower  country  referred  to,  in 
cluding  the  site  of  New  Orleans,  was,  before  its  civilized 
occupation,  yearly  overflowed  for  several  months.  This 
inundation  was  afterwards  prevented  by  the  erection  on 
each  shore  of  a  narrow  dike,  called  a  levee,  along  the 
top  of  the  natural  bank,  high  enough  to  confine  the 
waters  in  their  most  swollen  state.  The  river  being 
deep  and  muddy,  and  pursuing  a  winding  course,  neces 
sarily,  when  thus  restrained,  wrought  many  gradual 
changes  in  the  line  of  the  shores,  adding  at  some  points 
a  constantly  increasing  soil  to  one  side,  and  carrying  away 
compensation  from  the  other. 

Early  in  the  last  century,  the  society  of  Jesuits,  under 
grants  from  the  King  of  France,  became  possessed  of 
some  lands  on  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  adjacent  to 
the  city  of  New  Orleans.  In  1763,  and  just  before  the 
cession  to  Spain  of  the  province  of  Orleans,  the  order  of 
Jesuits  was  abolished  in  France,  and  its  property  was 
forfeited  to  the  Crown.  Under  an  edict  of  confiscation. 
18 


138  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

\  the  land  just  mentioned  was  seized  and  sold.  That  part 
of  it  nearest  the  city  afterwards  came  to  the  possession 
of  Bertrand  Gravier,  who  divided  it  into  suburban  lots, 
which  he  sold  and  conveyed  to  several  purchasers.  In 
the  mean  time,  the  river  was  every  year  depositing  allu 
vion  in  front  of  the  whole  ground.  The  deposit  being 
lower  than  the  levee,  was,  in  the  season  of  low  water, 
uncovered,  but  submerged  during  the  time  of  the  an 
nual  flood,  so  that  it  could  serve  as  an  anchorage  some 
times,  and  sometimes  as  a  quay;  and,  being  convenient 
to  the  people  of  New  Orleans,  it  came  to  be  used  a  good 
deal  for  these  purposes  without  question.  This  new 
ground  was  called  the  Batture  Ste.  Marie. 

Bertrand  Gravier  dying,  without  children,  a  little  be 
fore  the  transfer  of  the  province  to  the  United  States,  his 
brother  John  inherited  his  property  by  a  process  known 
to  tbe  civil  law,  which  gave  it  to  bim,  according  to  his  op 
tion,  in  the  character  of  a  purchaser,  and  exempted  him 
from  liability  for  the  debts  of  the  estate  beyond  the  prop 
erty's  inventoried  value.  The  attention  of  John  Gravier 
was  soon  turned  to  the  condition  of  the  Batture,  and  his 
own  rights  with  respect  to  it;  and  as  early  as  1803  he 
enclosed  a  portion  of  it  with  a  fence.  But  no  very  defi 
nite  claim  to  the  exclusive  possession  of  the  ground  as 
property  was  set  up  by  him,  or  by  the  public,  or  by  any 
body,  until  Mr.  Livingston  opened  his  law-office  in  New 
Orleans,  and  John  Gravier  became  one  of  his  first  clients. 
Being  called  upon  for  his  advice,  he  learned  the  history 
of  the  ground,  investigated  the  law  relative  to  the  rights 
of  riparian  owners  in  such  cases  by  studying  the  Roman, 
the  French,  the  Spanish,  and  the  English  regulations  upon 
the  subject,  and  then  declared  his  opinion  to  be  that  John 
Gravier  was  the  legal  owner  of  the  principal  part  of  the 
Batture  Ste.  Marie. 


THE    BATTURE   CONTROVERSY. 

The  rapid  growth  of  New  Orleans  had  now  commenced, 
and  Livingston  at  once  perceived  that,  if  his  professional 
opinion  was  sound,  there  was  value  enough  in  the  prop 
erty  for  several  fortunes.  This  rural  bank  must  soon 
give  place  to  urban  wharves  like  those  of  New  York. 
Ah!  here  was  a  mine  to  be  worked,  and  opportunity  to 
escape  from  bankruptcy  at  a  single  bound,  instead  of 
trudging  only  the  tedious  road  of  careful  industry.  He 
immediately  undertook  the  prosecution  of  legal  proceed 
ings  on  behalf  of  Gravier,  to  secure  an  undisturbed  pos 
session  of  the  ground,  and  purchased  a  portion  of  the 
property  for  himself.  If  he  could  have  foreseen  the  va 
riety  and  extent  of  the  obstacles  before  him, — the  weary 
war  of  arguments,  demurrers,  and  appeals  ;  of  popular 
prejudice  and  mob  violence  ;  of  forcible  official  opposi 
tion  from  the  executives  of  two  governments,  —  the  Ter 
ritorial  and  the  National ;  of  laborious  correspondence  ; 
of  voyages  to  Washington ;  of  petitions  to  Congress ; 
of  ridicule,  scorn,  and  slander, — probably  he  would  have 
taken  the  longer  and  more  quiet  path  to  fortune.  But 
whether  or  not  he  would  have  avoided  entrance  to  the 
quarrel,  he  chose,  being  in,  to  bear  it,  with  what  spirit 
the  reader  will  have  an  opportunity  to  see.  In  the  end, 
though  failing,  through  the  law's  delay  and  the  vacillat 
ing  action  of  a  local  court,  to  reap  the  full  material  ad 
vantages  to  which  he  had  looked  forward,  yet  he  achieved 
a  complete  moral  victory, — his  latest  triumph  being,  as  I 
shall  have  occasion  to  show,  over  the  inveterate  preju 
dices  of  his  celebrated  adversary.  The  contest  proved  a 
clear  advantage  to  his  reputation,  though  a  clog  to  his 
fortune  and  a  Will-o'-the-wisp  to  his  persistent  exertions. 

The  suit  of  Gravier  was  against  the  city  of  New  Or 
leans,  and  his  prayer  to  the  court  was  for  the  confirma 
tion  of  a  quiet  title.  The  litigation  proceeded  without  any 


14*0  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

noise  for  two  years,  till  early  in  1807,  when  judgment 
was  pronounced  in  the  plaintiff's  favor,  one  of  the  three 
judges  delivering  a  dissenting  opinion.  Soon  afterwards 
Mr.  Livingston  entered  upon  his  portion  of  the  property 
and  commenced  improving  it.  Then  there  was  commotion 
in  the  city.  The  people  suddenly  awoke  to  the  percep 
tion  of  a  great  danger  and  a  grievous  wrong.  They 
had  piled  wood  and  merchandise  upon  the  Batture  Ste. 
Marie  and  had  carried  away  earth  from  it  at  pleasure 
for  some  years ;  why  should  they  not  continue  to  do  so  1 
The  ground  had  belonged  to  nobody;  therefore  it  was 
theirs.  They  had  before  looked  upon  Livingston  as  a 
great  lawyer  ;  he  now  became  in  their  eyes  a  sort  of 
legal  Mephistopheles, — a  being  of  such  more  than  mortal 
subtlety  that  he  threatened  to  employ  the  forms  of  law 
to  appropriate  whatever  he  might  covet.  This  kind  of 
art  had  made  him  rich  in  a  day ;  and  besides,  it  was  his 
intention  to  proceed  at  once  to  such  a  use  of  the  Batture 
as  to  dam  the  Mississippi,  or,  at  the  least,  to  turn  its 
channel  so  as  to  inundate  the  country,  drown  the  city, 
— and,  of  course,  sink  his  new  fortune.  His  work  upon 
the  ground  was  presented  by  the  grand  jury  as  a  nui 
sance.  His  laborers  were,  more  than  once,  driven  from 
their  employment  by  the  populace.  The  Governor  of 
the  Territory  —  Claiborne  —  was  appealed  to  for  mili 
tary  interference.  Being  a  timid,  or  at  least  a  peaceable 
man,  he  quieted  the  tumult  for  the  time,  by  promising 
an  immediate  reference  of  the  whole  matter  to  the  Gen 
eral  Government. 

A  messenger  was  despatched  to  Washington  to  re 
port  the  facts,  and  represent  that,  in  the  Governor's  opin 
ion,  the  Batture  Ste.  Marie  legally  belonged  to  the 
United  States  as  sovereign  of  the  soil.  The  President 
took  up  the  subject  with  lively  interest.  Cabinet  de- 


THE    BATTURE   CONTROVERSY. 

liberations  were  devoted  to  it.  The  Attorney-General 
was  called  upon  for  his  opinion  in  writing,  which,  when 
produced,  was  in  favor  of  the  title  of  the  United  States. 
Mr.  Livingston  was  held  to  be  an  intruder.  Prompt 
and  efficient  measures  were  taken  to  extinguish  his  en 
terprise.  The  Marshal  of  the  District  of  Orleans  was 
instructed  by  a  letter  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  of  No 
vember  30,  1807,  "to  remove  immediately  by  the  civil 
power  any  persons  from  the  Batture  Ste.  Marie  who 
had  taken  possession  since  the  3d  of  March  ;  "  and  the 
Secretary  of  War  simultaneously  ordered  the  command 
ing  officer  at  New  Orleans  to  use  military  force  for  the 
same  object,  if  required  by  the  Governor. 

The  Marshal  found  Mr.  Livingston's  men  at  work 
on  the  ground.  At  his  command  they  desisted,  but  soon 
returned  by  direction  of  their  employer.  An  order  was 
obtained  from  a  judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  the 
Territory  and  served  upon  the  Marshal,  forbidding  his  in 
terference,  under  pain  of  a  contempt  of  court.  He  disre 
garded  the  injunction,  and  dispossessed  Mr.  Livingston. 

The  business  of  the  controversy  was  now  fairly  opened. 
Mr.  Livingston  brought  an  action  against  the  Marshal, 
in  the  Federal  court  at  New  Orleans,  to  recover,  accord 
ing  to  the  forms  of  the  civil  law,  damages  for  his  ex 
pulsion,  and  a  restoration  to  possession,  and,  somewhat 
later,  another  action  for  damages  against  Mr.  Jefferson, 
in  the  district  of  the  latter's  residence.  He  published 
pamphlets  upon  the  subject.  He  made  Congress  ring 
with  his  complaints.  He  besieged  the  Executive  with 
offers  to  submit  his  claim  to  any  form  of  trial  or  arbi 
tration,  whilst  loudly  demanding  a  hearing  of  some  sort. 
But  all  his  labors  were  without  fruits,  so  far  as  the  ac 
tion  of  any  branch  of  the  government  was  concerned. 
If  the  President  had  been  a  mild  despot,  in  character 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

and  in  power,  he  could  not  have  held  his  enemy  in  a 
stricter  helplessness  for  the  time  being.  Congress  was 
friendly  to  him  and  deaf  to  the  subject.  He  utterly  re 
fused  or  neglected  every  entreaty  for  a  fair,  or  any, 
hearing  of  the  case  on  its  merits.  In  the  personal  action 
against  himself,  he  turned  the  plaintiff  out  of  court  by 
demurring  to  the  jurisdiction.  The  latter  seemed  to 
be,  and  began  himself  to  feel  like,  a  ruined  man.  He 
afterwards  declared,  that  during  this  period  he  keenly 
felt  all  that  Spenser  describes  in  the  lines, — 

"  Full  little  knowest  thou,  that  hast  not  tride, 
What  hell  it  is,  in  suing  long  to  bide  ; 
To  loose  good  days  that  might  be  better  spent ; 
To  wast  long  nights  in  pensive  discontent ; 
To  speed  to-day,  to  be  put  back  to-morrow ; 
To  feed  on  hope,  to  pine  with  feare  and  sorrow  ; 
To  fret  thy  soul  with  crosses  and  with  cares  ; 
To  eate  thy  heart  through  comfortlesse  dispaires ; 
To  fawn,  to  crowche,  to  waite,  to  ride,  to  ronne, 
To  spend,  to  give,  to  want,  to  be  undonne." 

Years  went  by,  and  Mr.  Jefferson  passed  out  of  office. 
Mr.  Livingston  had  resumed  the  more  even  tenor  of 
professional  life,  and  had  made  advances  in  public  esti 
mation.  The  litigation  of  the  cause  against  the  Marshal 
at  New  Orleans  was  approaching  a  decision.  There  was 
a  manifest  modification  of  the  popular  sentiment,  with 
respect  to  the  merits  of  the  case.  It  now  occurred 
to  the  ex-President  that  if  the  judgment  of  the  court 
should  be  pronounced  in  Livingston's  favor  and  followed 
by  acquiescence  on  the  part  of  the  public  of  New  Or 
leans,  his  own  conduct  would  require  careful  explanatory 
treatment  to  make  it  appear  at  all  excusable.  It  would 
then  be  clear,  that,  acting  upon  ex  parte  representations, 
and  refusing  to  hear  both  sides,  he  had  forcibly  invaded 
the  rights  of  a  citizen,  because  he  had  the  physical  power 
to  do  so,  and  because  it  happened  to  be  a  case  in  which 


THE    BATTURE    CONTROVERSY.  14,3 

his  own  sentiments  had  been  in  unison  with  those  of  a 
mob.  The  result  of  this  kind  of  reflection  was  that  he 
furbished,  at  leisure,  the  notes  and  argument  which  he 
had  before  prepared  for  the  use  of  counsel,  left  it  all 
bristling  with  vituperation  and  ridicule  of  his  adversary, 
and  printed  the  whole  for  circulation  through  the  country 
in  181 2.  This  paper  is  a  pamphlet  of  ninety-one  pages, 
entitled  "  The  Proceedings  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  in  maintaining  the  Public  Right  to  the 
Beach  of  the  Mississippi,  Adjacent  to  New  Orleans,  against 
the  Intrusion  of  Edward  Livingston.  Prepared  for  the 
Use  of  Counsel,  by  Thomas  Jefferson."  The  author,  in 
1814,  by  request  of  the  Editor  of  the  "American  Law 
Journal,"  printed  at  Baltimore,  furnished  a  copy,  with 
additional  notes,  for  republication  in  the  same  number 
of  that  periodical  in  which  first  appeared  "  An  Answer 
to  Mr.  Jefferson's  Justification  of  his  Conduct,  in  the 
Case  of  the  New  Orleans  Batture.  By  Edward  Living 
ston.  Nullce  sunt  occultiores  imidice,  quam  quce  latent  in 
simulatione  officii,  aut  in  aliquo  neccssitudinis  nomine. 
Cicero,"  —  a  pamphlet  of  one  hundred  and  ninety-five 
pages. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  by  his  official  action  in  this  affair,  com 
mitted  a  serious  error  which  proved  a  serious  outrage. 
His  self-vindication  just  mentioned  was  a  laborious  blun 
der;  for  it  called  forth  a  reply  from  Mr.  Livingston  of 
which  no  man  could  well  afford  to  be  the  subject,  —  a 
performance,  in  its  kind,  never  surpassed,  I  presume, 
by  any  lawyer.  The  author  of  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence  was,  on  political  subjects,  the  wisest  and 
most  eloquent  writer  of  his  time.  But  it  was  a  mistake 
for  even  him  to  challenge  and  provoke  such  an  opponent 
as  Edward  Livingston,  under  the  circumstances  above 
detailed. 


144  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

In  method  the  disputants  differed  greatly.  Mr.  Jef 
ferson's  paper,  though  relieved  by  frequent  sharp  and 
rapid  incidental  thrusts  at  his  adversary,  is  a  rather  dry 
and  labored  disquisition,  upon  topics  for  the  most  part 
now  of  little  interest  to  any  but  the  legal  scholar.  The 
answer,  though  in  its  stating  and  strictly  argumentative 
parts  as  concise  and  direct  as  the  other,  is  yet  so  over 
laid  with  riches  of  style,  pungency  of  satire,  and  fulness 
of  eloquence,  that,  in  spite  of  its  length,  its  entire  pe 
rusal  will,  at  any  time,  delight  the  educated  reader. 

Mr.  Jefferson  begins  at  once  with  his  ingenious  ver 
sion  of  the  facts,  having  made  the  following  exordium 
in  the  form  of  a  preface  :  — 

"  Edward  Livingston,  of  the  Territory  of  Orleans,  hav 
ing  taken  possession  of  the  beach  of  the  river  Mississippi, 
adjacent  to  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  in  defiance  of  the 
general  right  of  the  nation  to  the  property  and  use  of 
the  beaches  and  beds  of  their  rivers,  it  became  my  duty, 
as  charged  with  the  preservation  of  the  public  property, 
to  remove  the  intrusion,  and  to  maintain  the  citizens  of 
the  United  States  in  their  right  to  a  common  use  of 
that  beach.  Instead  of  viewing  this  as  a  public  act, 
and  having  recourse  to  those  proceedings  which  are 
regularly  provided  for  conflicting  claims  between  the 
public  and  an  individual,  he  chose  to  consider  it  as  a 
private  trespass  committed  on  his  freehold,  by  myself 
personally,  and  instituted  against  me,  after  my  retirement 
from  office,  an  action  of  trespass,  in  the  Circuit  Court 
of  the  United  States  for  the  District  of  Virginia. 

"Being  requested  by  my  counsel  to  furnish  them  with 
a  statement  of  the  facts  of  the  case,  as  well  as  of  my 
own  ideas  of  the  questions  of  right,  I  proceeded  to  make 
such  a  statement,  fully  as  to  facts,  but  briefly  and  gen 
erally  as  to  the  questions  of  right.  In  the  progress  of 


THE    BATTURE    CONTROVERSY. 

the  work,  however,  I  found  myself  drawn  insensibly  into 
details,  and  finally  concluded  to  meet  the  questions  gen 
erally  which  the  case  would  present,  and  to  expose  the 
weakness  of  the  plaintiff's  pretensions,  in  addition  to  the 
strength  of  the  public  right.  These  questions  were,  of 
course,  to  arise  under  the  laws  of  the  Territory  of  Or 
leans,  composed  of  the  Roman,  the  French,  and  the 
Spanish  codes,  and  written  in  those  languages.  The 
books  containing  them  are  so  rare  in  this  country  as 
scarcely  to  be  found  in  the  best  furnished  libraries.  Hav 
ing  more  time  than  my  counsel,  consistently  with  their 
duties  to  others,  could  bestow  on  researches  so  much 
out  of  the  ordinary  line,  I  thought  myself  bound  to  fa 
cilitate  their  labors,  and  to  furnish  them  with  such  ma 
terials  as  I  could  collect.  I  did  it  by  full  extracts  from 
the  several  authorities,  and  in  the  languages  in  which 
they  were  originally  written,  that  they  might  judge  for 
themselves  whether  I  had  misinterpreted  them.  These 
materials  and  topics,  expressed  in  the  technical  style  of 
the  law,  familiar  to  them,  they  were  of  course  to  use 
or  not  to  use,  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  bet 
ter  judgment.  If  used,  it  would  be  with  the  benefit  of 
being  delivered  in  a  form  better  suited  to  the  public  ear. 
I  passed  over  the  question  of  jurisdiction,  because  that 
was  one  of  ordinary  occurrence,  and  its  limitations  well 
ascertained.  On  this,  in  event,  the  case  was  dismissed  ; 
the  court  being  of  opinion  they  could  not  decide  a  ques 
tion  of  title  to  lands  not  within  their  district.  My  wish 
had  rather  been  for  a  full  investigation  of  the  merits  at 
the  bar,  that  the  public  might  learn,  in  that  way.  that 
their  servants  had  done  nothing  but  what  the  laws  had 
authorized  and  required  them  to  do.  Precluded  now  from 
this  mode  of  justification,  I  adopt  that  of  publishing  what 
was  meant  originally  for  the  private  eye  of  counsel." 

19 


146  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

This  preface  is  dealt  with  and  the  whole  subject 
opened  by  Mr.  Livingston  in  the  following  passage  :  — 

"  When  a  public  functionary  abuses  his  power  by  an 
act  which  bears  on  the  community,  his  conduct  excites 
attention,  provokes  popular  resentment,  and  seldom  fails 
to  receive  the  punishment  it  merits.  Should  an  individ 
ual  be  chosen  for  the  victim,  little  sympathy  is  created 
for  his  sufferings,  if  the  interest  of  all  is  supposed  to 
be  promoted  by  the  ruin  of  one.  The  gloss  of  zeal 
for  the  public  is  therefore  always  spread  over  acts  of 
oppression,  and  the  people  are  sometimes  made  to  con 
sider  that  as  a  brilliant  exertion  of  energy  in  their  favor, 
which,  when  viewed  in  its  true  light,  would  be  found  a 
fatal  blow  to  their  rights. 

"In  no  government  is  this  effect  so  easily  produced  as 
in  a  free  republic ;  party  spirit,  inseparable  from  its  ex 
istence,  there  aids  the  illusion,  and  a  popular  leader  is 
allowed  in  many  instances  impunity,  and  sometimes 
rewarded  with  applause  for  acts  that  would  make  a  ty 
rant  tremble  on  his  throne.  This  evil  must  exist  in  a 
degree,  —  it  is  founded  in  the  natural  course  of  human 
passions  ;  but  in  a  wise  and  enlightened  nation  it  will 
be  restrained ;  and  the  consciousness  that  it  must  exist 
will  make  such  a  people  more  watchful  to  prevent  its 
abuse.  These  reflections  occur  to  one,  whose  property, 
without  trial  or  any  of  the  forms  of  law,  has  been  vio 
lently  seized  by  the  first  magistrate  of  the  Union,  —  who 
has  hitherto  vainly  solicited  an  inquiry  into  his  title,  — 
who  has  seen  the  conduct  of  his  oppressor  excused  or 
applauded,  —  and  who,  in  the  book  he  is  now  about  to 
examine,  finds  an  attempt  openly  to  justify  that  conduct 
upon  principles  as  dangerous  as  the  act  was  illegal  and 
unjust.  This  book  relates  to  a  case  which  has  long  been 
before  the  public,  and  purports  to  be  the  substance  of 


THE    BATTURE    CONTROVERSY. 

instructions  prepared  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  late  President 
of  the  United  States,  for  his  counsel,  in  a  suit  instituted 
by  me  against  him.  After  four  years'  earnest  entreaty 
I  have  at  length  obtained  a  statement  of  the  reasons 
which  induced  him  to  take  those  violent  and  unconstitu 
tional  measures  of  which  I  have  complained. 

"  It  would  perhaps  be  deemed  unreasonable  to  quarrel 
with  Mr.  Jefferson  for  the  delay,  when  we  reflect  how 
necessary  Mr.  Moreau's  Latin  and  Mr.  Thierry's  Greek, 
Poydras's  elegant  invective,  and  his  own  Anglo-Saxon 
researches  were  to  excuse  an  act  for  which,  at  the  time 
he  committed  it,  he  had  no  one  plausible  reason  to  allege. 
Such  an  act,  certainly,  is  easier  to  perform  than  to  jus 
tify  ;  and  Mr.  Jefferson  has  been  right  in  taking  four 
years  to  consider  what  excuse  he  should  give  to  the  world 
for  his  conduct,  and  still  more  so  in  laying  under  con 
tribution  all  writings,  all  languages,  all  laws,  and  in  call 
ing  to.  his  aid  all  the  popular  prejudices  which  his  own 
conduct  had  excited  against  me.  He  wanted  all  this 
and  more,  to  make  a  decent  defence.  But  it  was  rather 
awkward  to  press  into  his  service  facts  which,  it  is  con 
fessed,  he  did  not  know  at  the  time,  and  something  worse 
than  awkward  to  impose  on  the  public,  as  I  shall  show 
he  has,  by  false  translations  and  garbled  testimony.  But  v1/)n 
we  must  excuse  the  late  President  :  c  his  wish  had  rather 
been  for  a  full  investigation  of  the  MERITS  at  the  BAR, 
that  the  public  might  learn,  in  that  way,  that  their  ser 
vants  had  done  nothing  but  what  the  laws  had  author 
ised  and  required  them  to  do,'  and  '  PRECLUDED  now 
from  that  mode  of  justification,  he  adopts  that  of  publish 
ing  what  was  meant  originally  for  the  private  eye  of 
counsel.'  I  givfc  the  words  of  the  author  here,  lest  in 
this  extraordinary  sentence  I  should  be  suspected  of 
having  misrepresented  or  misunderstood  him.  An  in- 


148  LIFE   OF   EDWARD  LIVINGSTON. 

dividual  holding  a  tract  of  land,  under  one  whose  title 
had  been  acknowledged  and  whose  possession  had  been 
confirmed  by  a  court  of  competent  authority,  is  violently 
dispossessed  by  the  orders  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  without  any  of  the  forms  of  law  and  in  viola 
tion  of  the  most  sacred  provisions  of  the  Constitution  ;  — 
the  ruined  sufferer  seeks  redress,  first  by  expostulation  ; 
he  offers  to  submit  to  the  decision  of  indifferent  men, 
and  he  is  refused  ;  he  offers  to  abide  by  the  sentence 
of  men  chosen  by  the  President,  and  he  is  refused  ; 
he  offers,  in  the  simplicity  of  his  heart,  to  acquiesce  in 
the  opinion  even  of  the  President  himself,  and  he  is  re 
fused.  He  is  not  even  permitted  to  exhibit  his  proofs. 
Fearing  the  conviction  they  would  produce,  he  is  told  that 
though  the  President  could  take,  he  cannot  restore  ;  that 
he  can  injure,  but  not  redress  ;  and  that  Congress  alone 
are  competent  to  grant  him  relief.  To  Congress  then 
he  applies ;  —  here  the  same  baleful  influence  prevails. 
After  two  voyages  of  three  thousand  miles  each,  after 
two  years  of  painful  suspense  and  humiliating  solicitation, 
after  an  attendance  of  three  sessions,  he  finds  that  no 
means  can  be  devised  for  his  relief;  that  the  friends  of 
that  man  who  '  wishes  for  a  full  investigation  of  the 
merits  at  the  bar '  defeat  every  plan  for  bringing  the  cause 
before  a  court,  vote  against  every  law  providing  for  a 
trial,  and  effectually,  as  they  think,  and  he  hopes,  bar  all 
access  to  any  tribunal  where  the  dreaded  merits  of  the 
case  could  be  shown.  Harassed  but  not  dispirited,  the 
injured  party,  finding  that  no  legislative  aid  can  be  ex 
pected  to  restore  his  property,  at  length  applies  by  suit 
for  a  compensation  in  damages  ;  he  appeals  to  the  laws 
of  his  country,  and  is  willing  to  abide*  by  the  decision 
of  a  jury,  in  a  country  where  long  residence,  great 
wealth,  the  influence  which  had  been  created  by  office, 


THE  BATTURE  CONTROVERSY.       149 

and  a  coincidence  of  political  opinion  gave  every  advan 
tage  to  his  opponent.  Here,  then,  is  an  opportunity  which 
a  man  desirous  of  open  investigation  will  not  neglect. 
The  upright  officer  who  has  heen  unjustly  accused  of 
oppression,  will  justify  himself  to  his  country,  and  cover 
his  accuser  with  confusion.  The  vigilant  guardian  of 
the  public  rights  will  defend  them  before  an  enlightened 
tribunal,  and  expose  the  rapacity  of  the  intruder.  He  who 
stands  'conscious  and  erect'  will  rejoice  in  the  investi 
gation  of  his  innocence,  he  will  discard  every  form,  and 
proudly  dare  his  adversary  to  a  discussion  of  the  merits  ! 

"  But  the  man  I  speak  of  does  not  do  this,  - —  the  man 
I  speak  of  did  not  dare  to  do  this.  He  feared  the  learned 
integrity  of  a  court,  —  he  feared  the  honest  independence 
of  a  jury.  He  intrenched  himself  in  demurrers,  sneaked 
behind  a  paltry  plea  to  the  jurisdiction,  and  now  pub 
lishes  to  the  world  that  he  is  precluded  from  this  mode 
of  justification,  and  that  'his  wish  had  been  for  a  full  in 
vestigation  of  the  MERITS  at  the  BAR.' 

"If  such  indeed  were  his  wish,  why  was  it  not  gratified? 
And  by  whom  was  he  precluded  from  this  favorite  mode 
of  defence  I  He  does  not  indeed  hazard  the  direct  as 
sertion  that  it  was  the  unsolicited  act  of  the  court.  His 
plea  to  the  jurisdiction,  his  demurrers,  not  to  mention  an 
attempt  to  stifle  the  suit  in  its  birth  by  a  rule  to  find 
security  for  costs,  —  all  these  would  too  apparently  falsify 
such  an  assertion.  But  though  not  stated  in  direct  terms, 
is  not  the  idea  strongly  conveyed  ?  Was  it  not  meant  to 
be  thus  conveyed  I  When  Mr.  Jefferson  says  that  the 
suit  was  dismissed  on  the  question  of  jurisdiction,  and 
that  'his  wish  had  rather  been  for  a  full  investigation 
of  the  merits  at  the  bar,'  what  are  we  to  conclude  ? 
What,  I  repeat,  did  he  intend  we  should  conclude,  but 
that  the  decision  of  the  court  was  unsolicited  and  con- 


150  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

trary  to  his  wish?  —  and  yet  he,  the  gentleman  who  tells 
us  this,  had  put  in  a  plea  to  the  jurisdiction,  that  is  to 
say,  prayed  the  court  to  dismiss  the  cause  without  an  in 
vestigation  of  the  merits.  He  did  more  :  fearing  that 
this  question  might  he  decided  against  him,  he  put  in  a 
demurrer  to  the  declaration;  that  is  to  say,  he  took  an 
exception  to  its  form,  and  prayed  the  court  a  second 
time,  that,  on  this  account,  also,  the  cause  might  be  dis 
missed  without  an  investigation  of  the  merits.  He  did 
not  stop  here :  a  third  battery  was  erected ;  he  pleaded 
another  plea,  that  he  did  the  act  complained  of  as  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  and  that  therefore  he  ought 
not  to  be  made  liable  in  his  individual  capacity ;  and  a 
third  time  prayed  to  the  court  that  the  cause  might  be 
dismissed  without  an  investigation  of  the  merits.  How 
Mr.  Jefferson  can  reconcile  these  pleas  with  his  wish  to 
obtain  a  hearing  on  the  merits,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive. 
The  coward  who,  on  receiving  a  challenge,  resorts  to 
the  interposition  of  a  magistrate,  might  as  well  bluster 
about  his  desire  fairly  to  face  his  adversary,  and  com 
plain  that  he  was  precluded  from  giving  him  satisfaction. 
Yet  this  preclusion  is  stated  by  Mr.  Jefferson  as  his  rea 
son  for  publishing  the  work  which  I  am  now  about  to 
examine.  He  had  many  advantages  in  the  execution, 
and  promised  himself  many  more  in  the  effects  of  this 
production.  The  subject  had  been  fully  and  ably  dis 
cussed,  but  the  publications  on  the  adverse  side  were  not 
in  many  hands.  A  considerable  time  had  elapsed  since 
the  subject  engaged  the  public  attention.  He  had  there 
fore  only  to  arrange  the  arguments  in  his  favor,  to  sup 
press  or  mutilate  the  conclusive  answers  which  had  been 
given  to  them,  to  collect  all  the  quotations  that  had  been 
used  in  the  discussion,  to  give  a  new  dress  and  the  sanc 
tion  of  his  name  to  the  calumnies  circulated  against  his 


THE    BATTURE    CONTROVERSY. 

opponent,  and  he  would  make  a  book  that  should  astonish 
by  the  polyglot  learning  of  its  quotations,  amaze  by  the 
profundity  of  its  borrowed  research,  and  delight  kindred 
minds  by  the  poignant  elegance  of  its  satire.  Add  to 
these  the  advantages  of  using  hearsay  testimony,  ex  parte 
testimony,  interested  testimony,  his  own  testimony ;  of 
quoting  authorities  with  an  et  ccetera,  for  those  parts 
which  bear  against  his  positions;  of  omitting  a  word 
in  the  translation  of  a  deed,  and  founding  a  long  argu 
ment  on  the  false  reading  thus  created ;  add  the  facility 
of  gaining  over  to  his  party  that  large  portion  of  man 
kind  who  find  it  much  more  convenient  to  be  convinced 
by  the  reputation  of  the  author  than  to  examine  his  work, 
and,  above  all,  the  hope  that  disappointment  and  despon 
dence  might  silence  his  opponent,  —  and  we  shall  have 
much  better  reasons  for  resorting  to  a  publication  of  his 
'  instructions  to  counsel '  than  the  alleged  preclusion  of 
a  hearing  at  the  bar.  Whatever  may  have  been  the 
causes  which  produced  this  work,  I  rejoice  exceedingly 
in  the  effect.  My  wish,  also,  had  '  rather  been  for  a  full 
investigation  of  the  merits  at  the  bar ; '  but  an  appeal  to 
the  public  is  preferred,  and  I  shall  not  decline  it.  Causes 
of  less  importance  have  sometimes  excited  an  interest, 
not  only  in  the  countries  where  they  originated,  but 
abroad.  The  despotic  King  of  Prussia  could  not  op 
press  one  of  his  subjects  under  the  forms  of  law  with 
out  exciting  the  indignation  of  Europe.  Lawyers  of  the 
greatest  eminence  took  cognizance  of  the  affair ;  and  the 
force  of  public  opinion,  even  in  a  military  monarchy, 
obliged  the  prince  to  do  justice  to  his  vassal.  Shall  I 
then  fear  a  less  beneficial  effect,  when  I  can  show  that 
the  free  citizen  of  a  free  country  has  been  deprived  of 
his  property  by  its  first  magistrate,  without  even  the 
forms  of  law  \  I  do  not  fear  it.  However  dull  may 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

be  the  discussion,  however  laborious  the  research,  it  will 
not  deter  those  who  have  an  interest  in  inquiring  whether 
their  '  servant  has  done  his  duty,'  or  has  been  guilty  of 
unconstitutional  violence.  I  invite  readers  of  this  de 
scription  to  follow  me  in  the  investigation  I  am  about 
to  make." 

The  ex-President  thought  fit  in  his  pamphlet  to  make 
and  argue  several  points  not  relevant  to  the  government's 
rights  on  the  theory  of  which  his  action  had  been  based, 
points  which,  therefore,  could  only  be  used  with  a  view 
to  exciting  or  keeping  alive  prejudices  against  his  ad 
versary.  One  of  these  positions  was  that  the  deeds  from 
Bertrand  Gravier  were  as  comprehensive  as  the  convey 
ance  to  him  ;  so  that  if  he  had  once  owned  the  Batture, 
he  had  parted  with  it  also.  Another  ground  thus  taken 
was,  that  if  the  property  had  descended  from  Bertrand 
Gravier,  John  did  not  take  the  whole,  but  only  an  in 
terest  in  common  with  his  brother  and  sister,  who  resided 
in  France.  Both  these  propositions  were  maintained  at 
length  and  with  pains  by  Mr.  Jefferson.  In  support 
of  the  former,  he  incorporated  in  his  argument  a  printed 
copy  of  one  of  the  deeds  from  Bertrand  Gravier,  in  the 
original  Spanish,  with  an  English  translation  of  his  own 
in  an  opposite  column,  and  offered  it  as  a  fair  specimen 
of  all  the  conveyances  by  the  same  proprietor.  The 
answer  of  Mr.  Livingston  showed  that  the  late  President 
had  mistranslated  the  Spanish  record  by  omitting  a  ma 
terial  word ;  that  still  the  particular  conveyance  was  an 
exception  to  the  others  ;  that  some  of  them  bounded  the 
land  they  conveyed  in  front  in  terms  by  the  levee,  and 
that  others  referred  to  a  map  or  plan  exhibiting  the  same 
boundary ;  that  the  Batture  was  expressly  reserved  in 
some,  and  in  others  expressly  granted;  and  that  in  the 
latter  cases  Mr.  Livingston  had  purchased  from  the 


THE  BATTURE  CONTROVERSY.       153 

grantees.  These  materials  are  used  very  effectively  in 
the  answer,  which,  after  insisting  that  the  only  questions 
which  it  became  Mr.  Jefferson  to  discuss  were,  Did  the 
land  belong  to  the  United  States  1  Had  the  government 
a  right  to  seize  it  ?  takes  leave  of  this  point  in  the  fol 
lowing  way :  — 

"  I  think  I  may,  therefore,  dismiss  this  first  head  of 
justification,  and  that  I  may,  without  flattering  myself, 
believe  that  I  have  shown  it  both  immaterial  to  the  de 
fence  of  the  late  President,  and  destitute  of  any  founda 
tion  if  material ;  —  I  have  shown  that  none  of  those 
front  proprietors  can  be  considered  as  owners  of  the  al 
luvion,  because  their  deeds  refer  to  the  plan,  which  does 
not  carry  them  to  the  river  ;  because  very  many  of  them 
refer  not  to  the  river,  but  to  the  levee,  as  their  front  ex 
posure  ;  and  because  those  who  have  an  express  convey 
ance  (except  one)  have  disposed  of  their  right,  by  sale,  to 
the  present  claimant ;  and  in  all  events,  if  theirs,  it  ought, 
as  their  property,  to  have  been  as  sacred  as  if  mine." 

Mr.  Jefferson's  other  suggestion,  in  favor  of  the  French 
brother  and  sister  of  Gravier,  is  diligently  refuted  in 
several  paragraphs,  beginning  in  the  following  quiet  and 
pungent  strain  :  — 

"  Having  thus  secured  the  rights  of  the  front  proprie 
tors,  this  provident  magistrate  next  takes  the  co-heirs  of 
John  Gravier  under  his  paternal  care.  He  has  discovered 
that  John  Gravier  (in  fraud  of  his  brothers  and  sisters, 
as  he  charitably  insinuates)  procured  the  property  of  his 
deceased  brother  to  be  adjudged  to  him;  that  this  Batture 
was  not  comprised  in  the  adjudication;  and  that  it  there 
fore  remains  the  property  of  the  heirs.  And  what  then, 
Sir  ]  Why,  if  this  statement  be  true,  John  Gravier,  as 
one  of  the  three  heirs,  would  have  a  right  to  convey  his 
undivided  third  ;  but  surely  it  gives  none  to  you  to  take 

20 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

it  away  from  his  grantee  or  from  the  co-heirs  in  France. 
As,  however,  I  know  it  must  give  great  satisfaction  to  a 
mind  so  feelingly  alive  to  the  interests  of  absentees,  to 
know  that  they  are  not  dissatisfied  with  the  transaction, 
I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you  that  they  have  ratified 
their  brother's  sale  of  the  Batture,  and  that  their  con 
cerns  need  no  longer  occupy  your  attention." 

After  disposing  of  these  topics,  Mr.  Livingston  pro 
ceeds  to  the  consideration  of  a  charge  of  collusion  and 
champerty,  elaborately  preferred  in  the  ex-President's 
pamphlet.  I  quote  a  part  of  his  observations  upon  this 
head :  — 

"  We  are  now  prepared  to  accompany  Mr.  Jefferson  in 
his  attempt  to  show,  not  that  the  property  belongs  to 
another,  but  that  it  does  belong  to  the  United  States,  and 
that  he  had  a  right  forcibly  to  seize  it.  But  we  are  not 
so  soon  to  be  gratified :  more  prejudices  are  to  be  excited 
against  the  injured  proprietor ;  another  attempt  is  to  be 
made  to  show  that  his  title  is  defective,  —  as  if  chang 
ing  the  party  injured  would  lessen  the  offence.  The  title 
of  Mr.  Delabigarre,  under  which  I  claim  a  part  of  the 
lands,  is  said  to  be  illegal,  and,  of  course,  I  suppose,  void. 
But  if  so,  does  it  vest  any  title  in  the  United  States  I  Ad 
mitting  that  he  were  guilty  of  champerty,  no  new  title 
would  thereby  accrue  to  them.  The  parties  might  be 
punishable ;  the  deed  might  perhaps  be  declared  void ;  but 
the  United  States  acquire  no  rights  which  they  had  not 
before.  Why,  then,  is  the  subject  introduced  1  Because 
in  a  bad  cause  it  is  easier  to  address  the  passions  and 
prejudices  of  men,  than  to  consult  their  reason  or  con 
vince  their  understanding ;  because  it  was  supposed  that 
the  name  of  Mr.  Jefferson  would  give  new  currency  to 
the  forgotten  calumnies  of  New  Orleans;  and  because 
some  men  can  never  forgive  those  whom  they  have  in 
jured. 


THE    BATTURE    CONTROVERSY.  155 

"The  repetition  of  this  charge  might  he  excu^ef; if.  it 
had  not  before  been  repeatedly  resorted   to,  if  IVj^^gf^ 
ferson  had    not    seen  the  refutation,  and    if   he  had  not 
the  evidence  of  the  falsity  of  the  charge  before  him. 

"It  is  begun  by  an  allegation,  '  that,  for  six  years  after 
his  purchase,  John  Gravier  never  manifested  a  symptom 
of  ownership  until  Mr.  Livingston's  arrival  from  New 
York,'  and  that  then  Gravier  received  his  inspirations 
that  the  beach  (as  he  chooses  to  call  it)  was  his ;  that  I 
tempted  him  to  lend  his  name  to  the  suit,  but  really  pros 
ecuted  it  for  my  own  benefit.  This  charge  is  made  with 
an  air  of  levity,  and  a  wretched  attempt  at  wit,  which 
could  proceed  from  no  one  but  a  man  hardened,  by  re 
peated  attacks  on  his  own  character,  into  a  total  insensi-  ryfY^' 
bility  for  that  of  others.  /  first  gave  the  idea  to  Gravier 
that  the  property  ivas  his  !  —  yet,  ten  years  before  my 
arrival,  his  brother  had,  by  four  several  recorded  deeds, 
disposed  of  different  parcels  of  it ;  and  Mr.  Jefferson, 
who  makes  the  charge,  knew  this  fact.  I  first  stirred 
up  a  dormant  claim! — yet  I  did  not  arrive  until  the 
7th  of  February ;  and  in  December  preceding,  a  square 
of  five  hundred  feet  was  begun  to  be  enclosed  with  a 
levee  and  ditch,  and  Mr.  Jefferson  had  evidence  of  the 
fact.  I  first  gave  Gravier  an  idea  of  his  claim!  —  and 
yet,  previous  to  my  purchase,  he  had  agreed  to  sell  it  to 
Mr.  Clark  and  Mr.  Morgan ;  and  Mr.  Jefferson  had  this 
evidence  of  the  fact,  that  I  had  published  it  at  the  place 
where  both  those  gentlemen  live,  and  that  it  was  never 
contradicted.  What  does  he  oppose  to  this  mass  of 
proof?  Nothing  but  an  assertion  that  he  'might  safely 
presume  that  Gravier's  work  was  not  begun  while  the 
French  governor  thought  the  country  belonged  to  his 
master,'  and  most  probably  not  until  after  my  arrival. 
Now  he  knew  that  I  had  arrived  in  February,  1804*,  and 


156  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

he  acknowledges  that  the  enclosure  was  ordered  to  be 
destroyed  on  the  S2d  of  that  month  ;  so  that  Mr.  Jef 
ferson  thinks  it  probable  that,  arriving  in  New  Orleans 
on  the  7tn  of  February,  I  should  immediately  find  out 
Gravier ;  inspire  him  with  so  much  confidence  as  that, 
by  my  persuasion,  he  should  set  up  a  most  unfounded 
claim ;  proceed  to  assert  it  by  making,  at  a  great  expense, 
a  ditch  and  embankment  round  a  square  of  five  hundred 
feet,  that  is  to  say,  two  thousand  feet  of  levee ;  and  that 
this  plan  should  be  formed  by  a  perfect  stranger  in  the 
country,  communicated  to  a  man  he  had  never  seen  be 
fore,  and  that  the  whole  should  be  executed  in  fourteen 
days  from  the  time  that  he  first  touched  the  shore.  This 
Mr.  Jefferson  thinks  so  probable  as  to  counterbalance 
oaths,  records,  and  the  silent  assent  of  those  most  conu- 
sant  of  the  fact,  and  most  interested  in  contradicting 
it ;  and  thus  he  uses  the  influence  of  his  late  exalted  sta 
tion,  to  perpetuate  refuted  calumnies,  and  stigmatize  the 
character  of  a  man  whose  fortune  he  had  wantonly 
ruined." 

The  course  of  the  argumentation  with  respect  to  the 
merits  of  the  case  cannot  be  pursued  here  ;  but  a  few 
additional  passages  may  be  quoted,  as  samples  of  the  char 
acteristic  manner  of  Mr.  Livingston's  performance.  In 
the  following  paragraphs  he  sets  about  the  more  direct 
part  of  the  issue  :  — 

"  Having  repelled  all  the  skirmishing  attacks  which 
have  hitherto  impeded  our  progress,  we  at  length  ap 
proach  the  body  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  defence.  It  consists 
of  the  following  points:  — 

"  I.  That  alluvions  of  navigable  rivers,  by  the  law  of 
France,  belong  to  the  King ;  and  that  those  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  have  been  transferred,  with  the  other  sovereign 
rights,  to  the  United  States. 


THE    BATTURE   CONTROVERSY. 

"  II.  That  the  right  of  alluvion  accrues  only  to  rural, 
not  to  urban  possessions. 

"III.  That  the  property  in  question  is  not  an  alluvion, 
but  part  of  the  bed  of  the  river,  which  belongs  to  the 
sovereign. 

"IV.  That  the  use  I  made  of  the  property  was  dan 
gerous  to  the  safety  of  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  and  an 
infringement  on  the  public  right  to  navigate  the  river ; 
that  my  works  were  a  nuisance,  and  that  the  President 
had  a  right  to  abate  it. 

"  In  discussing  these  points,  I  feel  an  embarrassment 
from  the  reflection  that  almost  everything  I  shall  say  has 
been  anticipated,  either  in  my  own  publications  or  those 
of  the  learned  counsellor  and  excellent  friend  *  whose 
disinterested  zeal  has  advocated  my  cause ;  and  I  cannot 
but  admire  the  patient  perseverance  with  which  Mr.  Jef 
ferson  consents  to  transcribe  the  oft-repeated  authorities, 
to  rally  the  broken  sophisms,  and  once  more  array  in  his 
service  the  ten  times  refuted  arguments  which,  at  differ 
ent  periods,  have  been  worn  out  in  his  defence.  I  will 
not,  however,  be  outdone  in  the  contest.  I  will  revive  the 
charge,  as  often  as  he  shall  choose  to  repeat  the  defence ; 
nor  will  I  cease  to  expose  his  oppression  to  the  public, 
until  I  have  an  opportunity  of  arraigning  him  before 
another  tribunal." 

Mr.  Jefferson  in  his  pamphlet  had  expended  much 
laborious  research  to  show  that  by  the  French  law  allu 
vion  belonged  to  the  Crown.  In  the  course  of  this  part 
of  the  discussion  he  found  himself  at  variance  with  the 
published  arguments  of  his  professional  associates,  —  men 
profoundly  learned  in  the  French  law.  In  the  answer, 
Mr.  Livingston,  after  exhausting  the  history  of  the  sub 
ject,  and  showing  that  in  the  year  1786  the  King  of 

*  Mr.  Peter  S.  Du  Ponceau. 


1,58  LIFE   OF   EDWARD  LIVINGSTON. 

France  had,  by  letters-patent,  publicly  disclaimed  any 
title  "  to  the  alluvions,  accretions,  and  deposits  formed 
on  the  banks  of  navigable  rivers,"  and  acknowledged  that 
they  "  belonged  to  the  proprietors  of  the  soil  adjacent  to 
the  shores,"  concludes  this  head  of  his  argument  and  ap 
proaches  another  thus :  — 

"  After  this  formal  recognition  of  the  principles  I  con 
tend  for  by  the  highest  judicial  and  legislative  authority  in 
the  kingdom ;  after  this  solemn  disavowal  of  the  regal 
rights  set  up  by  my  adversary ;  after  the  publicity  given 
to  the  decision  at  a  time  when,  if  I  mistake  not,  Mr.  Jef 
ferson  filled  a  high  station  in  the  capital  of  France,  —  it  is 
a  little  extraordinary  to  hear  him  assert  so  positively  that, 
since  the  edict  of  1793,  no  doubt  could  exist  as  to  the 
laws  of  France  on  the  subject  of  alluvion,  and  that  those 
laws  vested  them  in  the  King.  The  pertinacity  with  which 
this  opinion  is  adhered  to  is  the  more  extraordinary  as 
the  position  was  abandoned  by  two  of  his  fellow-laborers 
out  of  three  in  the  same  cause,  and  by  the  two  who,  being 
educated  in  France,  were,  without  any  disparagement  to 
the  acknowledged  merit  and  talents  of  the  third,  better 
qualified  to  determine  a  question  of  French  law  than  any 
gentleman  whose  professional  education  was  entirely 
American.  The  solicitude  of  our  author  to  obtain  the 
support  of  his  two  colleagues  on  this  important  point  is 
truly  ridiculous.  In  a  labored  note,  he  tries  to  coax 
Mr.  Moreau  out  of  his  opinion,  or  to  persuade  the  world 
that  'he  is  not  decided'  in  pronouncing  it;  and  his  ex 
tracts  now  show  me  why  this  memoirs  of  Mr.  Moreau 
was  never  suffered  to  meet  my  unhallowed  eye.  The 
Secretary  of  State  once  (I  believe  inadvertently)  men 
tioned  its  existence;  but  on  my  expressing  a  desire  to 
see  it,  changed  the  conversation,  and  I  found  there  were 
reasons  why  it  was  deemed  improper  to  communicate 
its  contents. 


THE    BATTURE    CONTROVERSY. 

"  The  decided  manner  in  which  his  other  advocate,  Mr. 
Thierry,  had  opposed  his  favorite  doctrine,  gave  Mr.  Jef 
ferson  no  hope  of  soothing  or  converting  him  ;  and  his 
arguments  on  this  point  most  assuredly  created  no  desire 
to  enter  the  lists  with  so  formidable  an  adversary. 

"  The  President  of  the  United  States,  therefore,  skulks 
out  of  the  ranks  to  carry  on  his  irregular  attacks,  and 
then  rejoins  the  standard  of  his  leader,  with  a  compli 
ment  which  he  hopes  will  disarm  his  wrath  and  secure 
forgiveness  for  his  desertion." 

The  following  is  the  mode  in  which  Mr.  Jefferson's 
distinction  between  rural  and  urban  possessions,  with 
respect  to  property  in  alluvial  accretions,  is  answered:  — 

"  We  next  come  to  a  position  of  which  Mr.  Jefferson 
seems  peculiarly  enamored,  namely,  '  that  the  right  of  allu- 
vion  accrues  only  to  rural,  not  to  urban  possessions, 
therefore,  that  had  the  Batture  been  an  alluvion,  and  gov 
erned  by  the  Roman  instead  of  the  French  laiv,  the  con 
version  of  the  plantation  of  Gravier  into  a  suburb  made 
it  public  property.'  These  words,  I  should  suppose,  mean 
that  although  Gravier's  plantation  had  been  increased  by 
alluvion  to  a  very  considerable  extent,  prior  to  his  laying 
it  out  into  a  suburb,  the  very  act  of  dividing  it  into  lots 
vested  in  the  public  all  that  part  which  had  been  created 
by  alluvion, — an  assertion  which  he  leaves  unsupported 
by  either  argument  or  proof,  and  which  modifies  his  posi 
tion  in  a  manner  that  renders  it  entirely  inapplicable  to 
the  present  case.  This  position  is,  '  that  the  Roman  law 
gave  alluvion  only  to  the  rural  proprietor  of  the  bank, 
urban  possessions  being  considered  as  prcedia  limitata? 
Now,  admit  this  wild  assertion  to  be  true  :  does  it  follow 
that  the  alluvion  created  before  the  ground  became  a  city 
belongs  to  the  public1?  On  the  contrary,  does  not  Mr. 
Jefferson  himself  allow  that  it  is  an  accessory,  and  that 


rf» 


160  L!FE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

the  accessory  must  follow  the  principal  I  If  this  be  so, 
the  question  is  at  an  end  ;  because  the  ground  on  which 
my  house  stood,  and  from  which  I  was  driven,  was 
formed  long  before  the  existence  of  the  suburb. 

"But  the  position  is  not  only  inapplicable,  but  unfound 
ed.  Let  us  examine  how  it  is  supported.  The  Institute, 
in  defining  this  species  of  property,  or  rather  this  mode 
of  acquiring  it,  says,  '  What  the  river  has  added  ayro  tuo 
by  alluvion  is  thine ; '  the  Digest  uses  the  same  expres 
sion.  Now  ayer  in  Latin,  and  dypos  in  Greek,  mean  a 
field.  Land  in  the  city  is  called  area,  a  lot.  Therefore 
you  must  show,  says  the  conclusive  and  most  learned  rea- 
souer,  that  your  alluvion  accrued  to  a  field,  or  you  are 
not  entitled  to  it ;  because  there  are  no  fields  in  a  city. 
I  must  answer  this  argument,  or  it  will  be  supposed  that 
this  very  learned  page  has  silenced  me ;  and  many  an 
honest  citizen  who  understands  no  Greek,  but  'honors  the 
sight '  as  much  as  Boniface  did  '  the  sound  of  it,'  will 
suppose  some  unanswerable  argument  lies  hid  in  the 
cramp  characters  that  adorn  it.  Seriously,  then,  let  me 
tell  my  learned  adversary,  first,  that  ager^  in  Latin,  means 
not  only  a  field,  but  the  generic  term  land^  and  that,  too, 
situate  in  a  village,  and,  to  take  away  all  cavil,  in  a  city" 

Here,  after  quoting  some  plainly  conclusive  Latin  au 
thorities  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  word  ager,  and  after 
following  closely  for  some  time  several  philological  con 
siderations  urged  in  the  paper  of  the  ex-President,  the 
answer  proceeds :  — 

"  But  I  think  in  the  reasoning  to  which  Mr.  Jefferson 
refers  me,  and  which  he  makes  his  own,  it  is  said  that 
there  are  prcedia  urlana  and  prcedia  rustica,  city  estates 
and  country  estates,  and  that  I  show  nothing  unless  I 
show  that  the  right  of  alluvion  accrues  to  the  former  by 
name ;  but  surely,  when  I  show  that  it  accrues  generally 


THE    BATTURE    CONTROVERSY. 

to  estates,  to  lands,  to  the  soil,  —  when  I  show  that  every 
term  used  to  express  an  interest  in  real  estate  is  em 
ployed  on  the  occasion,  —  I  show  enough  to  throw  the 
burthen  of  any  exception  upon  my  adversary.  I  might 
say  to  him,  I  have  shown  that  this  right  accrues  to  the 
ager,  to  the  fundus,  and  the  prcedium  ;  and  I  have  shown, 
by  the  most  approved  definitions,  that  all  these  terms 
include  lands  in  the  city  as  well  as  in  the  country.  If 
the  law,  however,  does  not  apply  to  city  property,  do  you 
show  it.  There  is,  Sir,  I  know,  the  prcedium  urbanum 
and  the  prcedium  rusticum  ;  but  permit  me,  most  learned 
civilian,  to  suggest  to  you  that  there  is  also  the  servus 
urbanus  and  the  servus  rusticus,  and  that  you  might  as 
well  tell  me,  when  I  cited  any  one  of  the  thousand  laws 
on  the  subject  of  slaves  generally,  that  it  did  not  apply 
to  the  town  slave,  because  he  was  not  particularly  named; 
—  nay,  you  might  make  the  same  exception  to  the  coun 
try  slave,  and  thus  show  that  what  applied  to  all  gener 
ally,  could  not  affect  any  in  particular.  And  if  it  were 
not  too  presuming,  I  might  add,  you  have  made  a  slight 
mistake  in  supposing  that  prcedia  urbana  were  always 
situate  in  a  city  ;  the  name,  Sir,  has  misled  you.  Before 
you  write  books  on  the  civil  law,  and,  above  all,  before 
you  rely  so  much  on  your  knowledge  of  it  as  to  strip  a 
citizen  of  his  property,  it  would  be  well  to  study  and 
digest  its  principles.  Its  maxims  are,  —  'In  eo  quod 
plus  est  semper  inest  et  minus ;'  c/w  toto  et  pars  con- 
tinetur  ;'  '  Semper  specialia  generalibus  insunf  Ponder 
on  these,  learned  Sir,  and  do  not  insist  that  a  bequest  of 
horses,  generally,  does  not  include  those  of  the  testator 
because  they  happen  to  be  white  horses,  black  horses,  or 
even  pied  horses. 

"  But  if  you  will  not  be  content,  without  a  positive  law, 
that  the  right  of  alluvion  accrues  to  property  in  the  city, 
21 


LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

as  well  as  the  country,  I  believe,  Sir,  I  must  gratify  you, 
If  it  had  not  been,  however,  for  the  bad  habit  you  have 
fallen  into,  of  being  learned  at  the  expense  of  others,  of 
repeating  quotations  without  looking  at  the  text,  you 
would  have  saved  me  this  trouble,  and  yourself  the  mor 
tification  of  repeating  a  triumphant  challenge  to  produce 
an  authority  which  you  would  then  have  seen  was  under 
my  hand. 

"  You  have  repeated,  after  those  who  went  before  you, 
the  quotation,  c/w  agris  limilatis  jus  alluvionis  locum  non 
habere  constatj'  had  you  read  the  rest  of  the  same  law, 
you  would  have  found  the  very  authority  you  challenge 
me  now  to  produce  :  '  Et  Trebatius  ait,  agrum  qui  hosti- 
lus  devictis  ea  conditione  concessum  sit  ut  in  civitatem 
veniret)  hater  e  alluvionemj  '  And  Trebatius  says,  that 
land  conquered  from  the  enemy,  and  granted  on  condition 
that  it  shall  be  included  in  a  city,  is  entitled  to  the  right 
of  alluvion.' 

"  I  repeat  that  I  need  not  have  produced  this  authority, 
and  that  nothing  but  my  desire  to  oblige  you,  Sir,  has 
induced  me  to  submit  it  to  your  inspection  ;  but  after 
this,  I  hope  we  shall  not  have  a  third  repetition  of  the 
•challenge.  Such  might  be  my  address  to  my  erudite 
adversary,  if  I  were  not  restrained  by  respect  for  the 
(Conviction  he  expresses  of  the  soundness  of  the  principles 
I  am  forced  thus  reluctantly  to  attack. 

"  The  common  law  of  England  is  next  resorted  to ; 
and  I  am  again  challenged  to  produce  a  decision  under 
that  law,  where  the  right  of  alluvion  to  city  property  has 
been  allowed.  Having  shown  one  under  the  law  which 
governs  the  country  in  which  the  lands  lie,  I  have,  I 
think,  done  enough  ;  but  I  am  resolved  that  none  of  the 
wretched  shifts  resorted  to  shall  go  un exposed,  and  that 
the  President  of  the  United  States  shall  not  have  it  to 


THE   BATTURE    CONTROVERSY. 

say,  that  his  conduct  would  have  been  legal,  had  the  land 
been  in  England,  and  he,  King  of  that  country. 

"  First,  then,  I  answer  this  appeal  to  the  common,  as 
I  did  that  to  the  civil  law,  by  giving  the  general  rule,  and 
calling  on  my  adversary  to  show  the  exception,  if  it  exist. 
Blackstone,  speaking  of  this  species  of  property,  even  in 
the  strong  case  of  alluvions  of  the  sea,  says,  c  And  as  to 
lands  gained  from  the  sea,  either  by  alluvion,  by  the  wash 
ing  up  of  sand  and  earth,  so  as  in  time  to  make  terra 
fir  ma,  or  by  dereliction,  etc.,  —  in  these  cases,  the  law  is 
held  to  be,  that,  if  this  gain  be  by  little  and  little,  by  small 
and  imperceptible  degrees,  it  shall  go  to  the  owner  of 
the  land  adjoining/  The  same  law,  he  says  a  little  be 
low,  applies  to  a  river.  Now  as  land,  in  the  English  law, 
means  every  species  of  soil,  whether  urban  or  rural,  as  a 
lot  of  ground  does  not  cease  to  be  land  although  it  be 
situate  in  a  city,  I  should  suppose  this  general  expression 
would  be  sufficient  to  show  that  the  King  would  have  no 
right  to  the  property  in  question,  were  it  situate  in  Eng 
land.  But  to  this  Mr.  Jefferson  gives  a  most  conclusive 
answer :  '  In  towns,  the  whole  bank  and  beach  being  ne 
cessary  for  public  use,  the  private  right  of  alluvion  would 
be  inadmissible.'  How  does  it  happen,  then,  that  in  every 
city  in  the  United  States  the  shores  and  wharves  are 
private  property,  except  in  the  cases  where  the  legislature 
or  the  King  may  have  granted  them  to  corporations,  in 
which  cases  they  possess  and  use  them  as  individuals? 
If  they  were  necessary  for  public  use,  they  could  never 
be  private  property  ;  if  the  private  right  of  alluvion  were 
'  inadmissible,'  it  would  never  exist.  But  necessary,  in 
Mr.  Jefferson's  vocabulary,  means  useful,  and  the  public 
means  those  who  administer  its  affairs.  Whatever,  there 
fore,  is  useful  to  promote  the  popularity  of  the  Presi 
dent,  is  necessary  to  the  public;  and  it  is  in  this  sense 


164*  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

only  that  his  allegation  can  be  reconciled  to  truth.  The 
question  of  the  right  of  alluvion  to  town-lots  has  arisen 
and  heen  decided  in  the  United  States.  The  lands  were 
situated  in  Newburyport,  and  the  case  is  reported  in 
Tyng's  Massachusetts  Reports,  vol.  iii.  p.  353,  Adams 
versus  Frothingham.  It  was  decided  according  to  the 
common  law  of  England,  not  by  virtue  of  any  State  reg 
ulation ;  and  the  judgment  affirmed  the  right  of  alluvion 
to  the  proprietor  of  a  town-lot. 

"  But  the  whole  body  of  American  judges  are  pro 
scribed  ;  their  decisions  are  no  rule  for  Mr.  Jefferson. 
6  Special  circumstances,'  he  says,  ;  have  prevented  atten 
tion  in  America,  either  to  the  law  or  the  breach  of  it.' 
What  those  circumstances  are  which  would  make  learned 
and  upright  judges  neglect  the  law,  or  enlightened  magis 
trates  disregard  the  interests  of  the  public,  he  has  not 
deigned  to  explain.  But,  be  it  so.  American  decisions 
shall  pass  for  nothing ;  there  are  no  bounds  to  my  com 
plaisance  for  my  adversary ;  everything  shall  be  yielded 
to  him ;  titles  in  Louisiana  shall  be  decided  by  the  laws 
of  England,  not  as  those  laws  are  understood  in  the 
United  States,  as  they  are  expounded  by  the  ignorant 
men  who  preside  in  their  courts,  but  as  they  flow  from 
the  fountain-head  in  good  old  England  itself,  and  not 
even  there  as  they  are  given  to  us  by  such  inaccurate  writ 
ers  as  Blackstone  or  Coke,  who  deal  in  general  princi 
ples,  but  we  will  look  for  decisions,  and  those  relating 
not  only  to  land,  but  to  land  in  a  city ;  nay,  more,  to 
land  in  a  port ;  and,  to  bring  the  case  still  nearer  home, 
to  a  beach  which  is  covered,  not  once  every  six  months, 
but  twice  every  day,  with  the  water,  not  of  a  river,  but 
of  the  sea,  and  on  which  ships,  not  Kentucky  boats,  ride 
at  anchor.  Thus  far  I  shall  be  enabled  to  go,  but  I  can 
didly  confess  I  can  get  no  farther;  and  if  it  should  be 


THE  BATTURE  CONTROVERSY.       155 

objected  to  me  that  my  property  is  chiefly  loam  and  vege 
table  soil,  and  that,  in  the  case  I  cite,  the  soil  was  sea- 
sand,  that  my  alluvion  was  produced  by  fresh  water, 
and  the  English  one  by  salt,  or  any  other  distinction 
equally  important  should  be  raised,  I  confess  that  I  must 
give  up  the  cause  in  despair,  and  avow  myself  vanquished 
by  the  superior  resources  of  my  opponent.  Let  us,  how 
ever,  do  what  we  can,"  etc. 

Some  animadversions  of  Mr.  Jefferson  upon  the  sup 
posed  dangers  of  Mr.  Livingston's  enterprise  are  thus 
met  by  the  latter  :  — 

"  This  leads  to  the  fourth  head  of  defence,  which 
supposes  the  property  mine,  but  alleges  an  use  of  it  in-  Q\yW 
consistent  with  the  laws  of  the  Territory.  The  docu 
ments  to  which  I  have  before  referred  show  how  ill- 
founded  is  this  charge.  But  suppose  it  true,  what  jus 
tification  does  it  form  for  Mr.  Jefferson's  interference  \ 

"  He  has  shown  that  if  I  were  guilty  of  these  attempts 
to  drown  and  poison  the  city,  there  were  laws  not  only 
to  punish,  but  restrain  me.  The  ancient  and  modern  pro 
visions  he  has  cited  authorize  the  judge,  on  the  com 
plaint  of  any  individual  interested,  to  issue  his  injunc 
tion  against  the  erection  of  the  work. 

"  He  has  not  only  cited  the  law,  but  shown  that  pro 
ceedings  were  had  under  it ;  he  has  told  the  public  that 
my  works  were  presented  by  a  grand  jury  as  a  nuisance. 
Why  was  not  that  presentment  followed  up  and  tried  \ 
I  could  then  before  a  jury  of  my  country  have  shown 
the  falsity  of  all  these  charges.  If  they  were  true,  a 
verdict,  which  could  have  been  had  in  ten  days,  would 
have  put  a  stop  to  my  '  aggressions '  as  effectually  as  the 
mandate  of  the  President,  and  I  believe  every  one  will 
allow,  with  rather  a  greater  attention  to  the  forms  of 
law.  That  a  President  of  the  United  States  is  required 


166  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

or  even  authorized  to  watch  over  the  police  of  the  rivers 
or  the  cities  in  the  Territories  ;  that  he  is  to  abate  the 
nuisances  in  the  suburbs  of  New  Orleans,  and  determine 
the  proper  height  and  extent  of  the  levees  in  the  Mis 
sissippi  ;  that  he  is  to  guard  against  the  accumulation 
of  the  '  putrefying  mass  with  which  I  was  to  raise  up 
the  foundation  of  my  embankment,' — appears  to  me  rather 
derogatory  to  his  station  and  incompatible  with  his  other 
duties.  I  had  thought  that  they  fell  within  the  province 
of  a  high  constable  or  a  scavenger  ;  that  the  first  magis 
trate  of  our  nation  had  certain  duties  assigned  to  him 
by  the  Constitution,  which  he  was  to  perform  without 
interfering  with  the  internal  regulations  of  Territories  and 
States  ;  and  that  when  he  was  authorized  to  ask  the  opin 
ion  of  the  great  officers  of  the  government,  it  was  not 
intended  that  he  should  degrade  them  by  deliberating 
on  the  propriety  of  filling  up  a  mud-puddle  or  pulling 
down  a  dike  in  New  Orleans. 

"^Nec  Deus  intersit  nisi  dignus  vindice  nodus,'  'Do  not 
let  Jupiter  appear  until  his  thunders  are  necessary  '  is  a 
maxim,  true  as  well  in  the  common  prose  transactions 
of  real  life,  as  in  the  fictions  of  poetry.  If  my  works 
were  a  nuisance,  a  court  of  quarter-sessions,  with  its 
sheriff  its  constables,  and  parish  jury,  was  a  much  more 
appropriate  machinery,  than  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  assembling  the  council  of  the  nation,  drawing  out 
its  military  force,  and  launching  his  thundering  mandate 
at  my  unprotected  head. 

"  There  is  a  real  or  affected  ignorance  of  the  first  prin 
ciples  of  our  government  which  runs  through  all  this 
division  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  argument,  that  is  degrading 
to  the  author  in  the  first  hypothesis,  insulting  to  his 
readers  in  the  second.  The  bed  of  the  river  and  its 
shores  belong,  says  his  argument,  to  the  public.  The 


THE    BATTURE    CONTROVERSY. 

sovereign  is  the  guardian  of  this  public  right;  and  though 
the  soil  of  the  bank  may  belong  to  an  individual,  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  sovereign  to  take  care  that  this  right  of 
private  property  yield  to  the  public  use.  To  this  point 
he  has  cited  Domat,  p.  60.  But  in  our  government 
who  is  the  sovereign  I  The  executive  head  of  the  fed 
eration  I  or  the  local  government,  the  State  or  Territorial 
sovereignty.  No  man  who  understands  the  first  rudi 
ments  of  our  Constitution  can  hesitate  on  these  questions. 
Again,  of  the  local  government,  which  branch  ]  Every 
infraction  of  a  public  right  is  a  public  offence,  and  all 
these  are  to  be  punished  by  the  intervention  of  the  Ju 
diciary,  a  branch  wholly  distinct  in  our  government  from 
the  Executive,  but  which  Mr.  Jefferson  has  confounded 
with  it  in  his  principle,  and  has  degraded  by  his  prac 
tice. 

"  The  Territorial  government,  for  all  the  purposes  of 
domestic  rule,  is  as  distinct  from  and  as  independent  of 
the  General  Government,  as  is  that  of  the  States.  By 
the  Ordinance  of  1787?  which  at  the  period  of  the  trans 
action  formed  the  Constitution  of  the  Territory  of  Orleans, 
there  was  a  governor  with  executive  power,  a  legislative 
council  and  house  of  representatives,  with  '  authority 
to  make  laws  in  all  cases  for  the  good  government  of 
the  district,  not  repugnant  to  the  Ordinance,'  or  Consti 
tution,  and  a  judiciary  regularly  organized.  In  short, 
a  local  government  complete  in  all  its  parts,  excluding 
as  much  any  interference  of  the  Federal  Government,  as 
those  established  in  the  States.  The  care,  then,  of  all 
these  public  rights  in  the  Territory  of  Orleans  belonged 
exclusively  to  the  proper  branch  of  the  local  government, 
and  the  interference  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States  was  as  unconstitutional  under  that  pretence  as  it 
would  have  been  in  New  York  or  Massachusetts  ;  and 


168  LIFE   OF  EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

he  might  as  well  order  the  Marshal  to  call  out  his 
posse  to  destroy  the  weirs  and  floating  nets  in  Hudson's 
River,  or  to  cut  down  the  wharves  that  project  into  its 
channel,  —  he  might  as  well,  I  repeat,  order  the  demoli 
tion  of  Long  Wharf,  and  direct  the  garrison  of  the  Castle 
to  hold  themselves  in  readiness  for  another  Boston  Mas 
sacre,  in  case  of  resistance.  He  would  he  quite  as  jus 
tifiable  in  doing  this  as  in  doing  what  he  has  done;  and 
he  might  use  the  same  arguments  with  as  much  force 
in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other. 

"  That  the  right  of  interference  resided  in  the  Territo 
rial,  not  in  the  General  Government,  is  in  effect  acknowl 
edged  by  our  author  himself,  who  tells  us  that  '  surely 
it  is  the  territorial  legislature  which  not  only  has  the 
power  but  is  under  the  urgent  duty  of  providing  regu 
lations  for  the  government  of  this  river  and  its  inhab 
itants,'  etc.  In  the  same  page  he  tells  us  that  '  the 
governor  and  cdbildo  (municipal  council)  seem  to  have 
held  this  pretorian  power  in  Louisiana,  as  well  as  that 
of  demolishing  ivhat  was  unlaivfully  erected;*  and  that 
'  the  act  of  the  legislature,  without  taking  the  power  from 
the  governor  and  city  council,  gives  a  concurrent  power 
to  the  parish  judge  and  jury,'  etc.  Here  we  have  an 
express  acknowledgment,  nay,  more,  a  strong  desire  to 
establish  a  right  in  the  Territorial  legislature  to  make 
laws  on  the  subject  in  dispute,  and  in  the  Territorial  ex 
ecutive  to  carry  them  into  execution,  —  not  only  to  pre 
vent  the  erection  of  any  nuisance,  but  to  demolish  it  if 
erected.  If,  then,  this  right  both  to  legislate  and  execute 
was  vested  in  the  local  government,  what  excuse  has  the 
President  of  the  United  States  for  his  interference  ?  In 
what  part  of  the  Constitution  does  he  find  this  concur 
rent  right  \  What  confused  ideas,  then,  I  repeat,  must 
that  man  have  of  government  who  believes  in  this  jus- 


THE    BATTURE   CONTROVERSY. 

tification  !  What  contemptuous  ideas  of  the  people  to 
whom  it  is  addressed  must  he  entertain,  who,  knowing 
its  fallacy,  thinks  he  can  impose  it  on  their  understand 
ings  ! 

"  But  supposing  my  works  a  nuisance,  and  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  to  have  the  power  to  abate 
it,  has  he  done  so  1  Is  that  the  act  of  which  I  com 
plain  I  Neither  the  one  nor  the  other  ;  —  his  order  is 
not  an  order  to  demolish  my  works,  to  fill  up  my  canal, 
to  pull  down  my  house,  but  '  to  remove  ME  from  the  pos 
session  of  the  landl  —  and  this  was  accordingly  done  ; 
the  canal  which  was  to  poison  the  city  by  its  pestilential 
vapors  was  suffered  to  remain,  and  is  resorted  to  at  this 
day,  although  nearly  choked  up  for  want  of  cleaning  and 
repair,  as  a  more  commodious  and  safe  harbor  for  boats 
than  any  other  near  the  city.  The  levee  that  projected 
into  the  river,  and  was  to  '  sweep  away  the  town  and 
country  in  undistinguished  ruin,'  was  not  demolished  by 
this  vigilant  abater  of  nuisances  ;  it  was  left  to  the  opera 
tion  of  time  to  effect.  The  house  which  impeded  the 
navigation  of  the  river  and  interfered  with  the  public 
right  to  its  banks,  was  transferred  to  the  possession  of 
the  city  of  New  Orleans,  and  for  several  years  was  oc 
cupied  as  their  guard-house.  So  that,  if  the  facts  alleged 
in  Mr.  Jefferson's  justification  be  true,  and  it  was  his 
duty  to  abate  the  nuisance,  he  has  totally  neglected  it ; 
he  has  suffered  the  nuisance  to  remain,  but  has  dispos 
sessed  the  owner  of  the  land  on  which  it  was  erected.  — 
a  new  mode  of  procedure,  and  somewhat  inconsistent 
with  that  eager  desire  to  destroy  these  dangerous  works, 
with  that  active  zeal  which  could  brook  no  delay  to  con 
sult  the  forms  of  law.  The  truth  is,  that  this  idea  of 
the  abatement  of  a  nuisance  is  a  complete  afterthought, 
never  alluded  to  in  the  act  or  in  any  of  the  early  stages 
22 


170  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

of  justification,  suggested  now  by  a  faint  hope  to  elude 
fair  inquiry,  and  made  of  such  stuff  as  are  the  arguments 
of  a  Newgate  solicitor  in  defence  of  a  felon  caught  in 
the  manoitr.  To  hide  the  threadbare  weakness  of  this 
argument,  it  is  glossed  over  with  a  mock-heroic  decla 
mation,  in  which  pestilence  and  fever,  death,  destruction, 
ruin,  and  inundation,  frighten  the  reader  in  every  line, 
and  in  which  he  has  reproached  me  with  being  afraid 
of  submitting  my  cause  to  a  jury.  Mr.  Jefferson  re 
proaches  me  with  this  !  —  he  whose  constant  care  has 
been  by  demurrers,  by  pleas  to  the  jurisdiction,  by  every 
device  that  chicane  could  invent,  to  avoid  this  species 
of  investigation ;  he  whose  steady  phalanx  of  friends  in 
Congress  defeated  every  attempt  to  submit  the  cause  to 
any  species  of  trial !  He  utters  this  reproach  to  me  ! 
who  for  five  years  have  been  constantly  engaged  in  the 
painful,  unavailing  task  of  solicitation  for  this  or  any 
other  trial.  Such  an  insulting  disregard  to  propriety 
and  truth  forces  me  from  the  moderation  with  which  I 
wished,  injured  as  I  have  been,  to  conduct  the  contro 
versy  ;  and  the  close  of  the  passage  now  under  review 
is  calculated  to  inspire  sentiments  not  only  of  indignation, 
but  of  horror. 

"  My  life  had  been  more  than  once  threatened  for  ex 
ercising  my  legal  rights.  Emboldened  by  the  idea  of 
executive  protection,  excesses  were  committed  in  my  case 
which  the  love  of  order  natural  to  the  people  of  Louisi 
ana  had  in  every  other  instance  avoided.  The  good  sense 
of  the  people  had  got  the  better  of  this  temporary 
frenzy ;  the  necessity  of  submitting  to  the  laws  was 
perceived  and  acknowledged.  Mr.  Jefferson's  friends 
must  have  informed  him  that  these  ideas  began  to  pre 
vail,  and  that  if  by  a  decree  of  the  court,  or  in  any  other 
legal  manner,  I  should  recover  my  possession,  there  were 


THE    BATTURE    CONTROVERSY. 


171 


now  no  hopes  that  I  should  be  deprived  of  it  by  a  mob. 
This  was  a  prospect  too  mortifying  to  be  endured ; 
the  people  must  be  excited,  —  the  spirit  of  1807  must 
be  revived,  and  though  the  danger  never  existed,  though 
if  it  existed  it  was  long  past,  it  must  be  painted  in  glow 
ing  colors,  the  vengeance  of  popular  fury  must  be 
directed  at  my  head  ;  an  expression  in  one  of  my  letters 
which,  it  was  thought,  would  render  me  odious  to  the 
people,  must  be  culled  with  malignant  care  ;  their  con 
duct  in  opposing  the  laws  must  be  spoken  of  with  com 
placency,  while  mine  in  daring  to  complain  is  held  up 
to  the  severest  animadversions ;  and  when  by  these  arts 
a  proper  spirit  is  supposed  to  have  been  excited,  they 
must  be  plainly  told,  that  though  their  laws  will  not  allow 
them  to  burn  me  alive,  it  is  a  punishment  mild  enough 
for  my  offence  ! !  *J\LA  rfl 

"  '  What  was  to  be  done,'  says  Mr.  Jefferson,  '  with  $10^ 
such  an  aggressor  ]  Shall  we  answer  in  the  words  of 
the  imperial  edict  \  Let  him  be  consumed  with  flames 
in  that  spot  in  which  he  violated  the  reverence  of  an 
tiquity  and  the  safety  of  the  empire  /  let  his  accessaries 
and  accomplices  be  cut  off]  etc.  '  Our  horror,'  he  adds, 
'  is  not  the  less  because  our  laws  are  more  lenient.'  I 
ought  perhaps  only  to  laugh  at  the  folly  of  this  rhapsody, 
and  remind  the  author  that  the  flames  were  prepared  by 
the  Roman  law  for  the  destroyers  of  the  dikes  of  the 
Nile,  not  for  the  one  who  erected  them,  —  I  ought  to 
ask  him  good-naturedly  to  look  at  the  title  of  his  own 
law,  and  determine  which  of  us  deserved  the  stake.  But 
I  confess  that  the  mirth  naturally  excited  by  the  ab 
surdity  is  somewhat  repressed  by  horror  at  the  wicked 
ness  of  this  attempt. 

"  On  these  facts  and  on  this  law,  the  late   President 
says,  '  We  were  called,  and  repeatedly  and  urgently  called, 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

to  decide.'  As  I  do  not  suppose  a  republican  magistrate 
could  assume  the  ridiculous  expression  of  royalty,  by 
speaking  in  the  plural  number,  I  must  suppose  that  he 
has  fallen  into  it  by  reflecting  on  the  various  capacities 
in  which  he  was  thus  urgently  called  on  to  act.  As  leg 
islator,  he  was  to  make  a  new  law  to  fit  the  circum 
stances  of  the  case  ;  as  judge,  he  was  to  apply  it  to 
those  facts,  which,  as  a  juror,  he  was  to  ascertain,  and 
to  pronounce  that  sentence,  which,  as  executive  officer,  he 
was  himself  to  carry  into  effect ;  as  President,  he  was 
to  reclaim  the  lands  of  the  United  States  ;  as  Command- 
er-in- Chief  of  the  armies,  a  sufficient  military  force  was 
to  be  prepared  to  overawe  opposition  ;  as  Mayor  of  the 
city  of  New  Orleans,  he  was  to  enforce  its  rights  against 
the  decrees  of  the  court ;  as  high  constable,  he  was  to 
abate  nuisances,  and  as  street  commissioner  to  remove 
the  putrefying  mass  that  threatened  the  health  of  the  city. 
We  ought  not  to  be  astonished  that  an  officer  who  thought 
himself  obliged  to  act  in  all  these  capacities  should  speak 
as  if  he  were  more  than  one,  nor  that,  having  in  this 
instance  invested  himself  with  all  the  characteristics  of 
despotism,  he  should  have  assumed  its  style." 

The  following  is  part  of  Mr.  Livingston's  review  of 
Mr.  Jefferson's  account  of  the  cabinet  deliberations  and 
\-  decision  to  act  in  the  matter  :  — 

"  The  task,  then,  undertaken  by  the  President  and  his 
counsel  was  a  judicial  one  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the 
word,  and  they  applied  themselves  to  it  with  some  de 
gree  of  form.  A  preliminary  question  to  be  decided  by 
a  court  inquiring  into  a  case  is,  By  what  rule  are  we  to 
decide  1  What  law  is  to  govern  the  case  1  And  we 
accordingly  find  that  this  was  the  first  object  of  attention 
with  our  new  tribunal.  '  The  first  question  occurring,' 
says  Mr.  Jefferson,  'was,  What  system  of  law  was  to  be 


THE  BATTURE  CONTROVERSY.       IJS 

applied  to  them  "? '  They  adopt  the  laws  of  France,  and 
then  they,  or  Mr.  J.,  (for  it  does  not  clearly  from  his 
style  appear  which,)  reason  through  forty  pages  upon  the 
law  and  the  fact,  and  having  clearly  settled  both  in  their 
own  minds,  they  are  convinced  of  the  guilt  of  the  ac 
cused,  and  we  have  the  important  inquiry  in  the  criminal 
cause  :  '  What  was  to  be  done  with  such  an  aggressor  \  ' 
Having,  with  a  humanity  for  which  I  can  never  be  too 
grateful,  determined  that  though  he  richly  deserved  it 
they  would  not  burn  him  alive,  they  proceed  to  declare 
what  sentence  shall  be  passed  on  the  civil  side,  or,  to  give 
Mr.  Jefferson's  words,  '  The  question  before  us  was,  What 
is  to  be  done  I  What  remedy  can  we  apply  authorized 
by  the  laws,  and  prompt  enough  to  arrest  the  mischief  1 ' 
The  points  of  law  and  of  fact  determined  by  this  tribu 
nal  are  then  resumed  and  stated  with  precision,  and  we  at 
length  come  to  the  decree,  which  is  thus  rendered :  '  On 
duly  weighing  the  information  before  us,  which,  though 
not  so  ample  as  has  since  been  received,  was  abundantly 
sufficient  to  satisfy  us  of  the  facts,  and  has  been  confirmed 
by  all  subsequent  testimony,  we  were  all  unanimously 
of  opinion  that  we  were  authorized  and  in  duty  hound, 
without  delay,  to  arrest  the  aggressions  of  Mr.  Livingston 
on  the  public  rights  and  on  the  peace  and  safety  of  New 
Orleans,  and  that  orders  should  be  immediately  despatched 
for  that  purpose,  restrained  to  intruders  since  the  passage 
of  the  act  of  March  3d.'  * 

"  Here  is  the  sentence,  and  I  am  mistaken  if  a  more 
formal  one  ever  received  the  sanction  of  a  court. 

*  The    act  of  Congress  here  re-  public  lands  from  encroachments  by 

ferred   to,   and  which  Mr.  Jefferson  the   class    since    called    "squatters," 

relied  upon  as  a  distinct  ground  of  and  its  passage  was  several   months 

justification  for  his  measures  against  before   the   question    of  title   to    the 

Mr.  Livingston,  was  a  general  stat-  Batture  was   presented    to   the    gov- 

ute  (Chapter  XLVI.  of  the  laws   of  ernment. 
the  session)  designed  to  protect  the 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

';  First,  we  are  told  that  they  duly  weighed  the  infor 
mation  before  them,  and  though,  to  be  sure,  it  was  not 
so  ample  as  has  since  been  received,  yet  it  was  abun 
dantly  sufficient  to  satisfy  them  of  the  facts.  Here,  then, 
is  a  decision  in  form  of  the  facts  in  the  case. 

"  But,  lest  any  doubt  should  be  entertained  of  the  juris 
diction  of  the  court,  an  elegant  pleonasm  is  introduced  to 
mark  this  feature  strongly,  and  show  that  no  doubts  were 
entertained,  at  least  by  the  judges,  on  this  subject.  '  We 
were  all  unanimously,'  says  the  classic  Jefferson,  cof  opin 
ion  that  we  were  authorized  and  in  duty  bound  to  arrest 
the  progress  of  Mr.  Livingston.'  Here  the  offender  is 
pointed  out,  and  his  double  aggression  distinctly  marked: 
he  is  found  guilty  of  offences  against  the  public  rights  and 
the  peace  and  safety  of  the  city  of  New  Orleans.  This  is 
the  conviction ;  in  the  sentence,  I  confess,  there  is  more 
obscurity  than  I  should  have  expected  from  the  pen  of 
the  enlightened  chief  of  the  tribunal.  '  Orders,'  it  is  said, 
'  should  be  immediately  despatched  for  that  purpose,'  (name 
ly,  to  arrest  the  aggressions  of  which  I  had  been  found 
guilty).  What  those  orders  were,  in  what  manner  the 
evil  was  to  be  arrested,  does  not  appear  by  the  record ; 
they  had  confidence  in  the  President,  perhaps,  and  left 
this  to  his  discretion ;  but  the  obscurity  is  cleared  up 
by  the  execution  which  immediately  followed  the  sen 
tence.  It  consisted  of  an  order  from  the  Secretary  of 
State  to  the  Marshal,  to  remove  all  persons  from  the 
Batture  who  had  taken  possession  since  the  3d  March, 
1807.  The  civil  power  is  to  be  first  employed,  and  in 
case  that  should  prove  insufficient,  the  Secretary  at  War, 
another  member  of  the  court,  orders  the  military  force  to 
carry  it  into  effect.  The  sentence  was  executed;  and  the 
unfortunate  offender,  thus  legally,  fairly,  and  constitution 
ally  condemned,  was  reduced  from  affluence  to  poverty, 


THE    BATTURE   CONTROVERSY. 


175 


from  the  prospect  of  independence  to  a  life  of  solicitation 
and  labor." 

In  point  of  dignity  and  temper,  the  private  citizen,  in 
discussing  what  he  regarded  as  an  enormous  personal 
injury  to  himself,  maintained  throughout  his  argument 
a  clear  advantage  over  the  late  chief  magistrate,  giving 
a  voluntary  account  of  his  management  of  a  high  gov 
ernmental  trust.  The  latter,  in  his  paper,  frequently 
stepped  aside  to  indulge  in  such  irrelevant  assertions 
as  that  Mr.  Livingston  was  "  an  eagle-eyed  adversary," 
a  "greedy  individual,"  governed  by  "the  delusions  of 
self-interest, "  one  who  "  could  not  suddenly  forget  the 
flesh-pots  of  Egypt,  even  in  the  new  land  of  Canaan;" 
that  he  was  engaged  in  "an  atrocious  enterprise,"  and 
was  leniently  dealt  with  if  not  bufnt  to  death ;  that  his 
claim  was  "  too  frivolous  to  occupy  the  attention  of  Con 
gress,"  -  —  and  the  like.  His  adversary,  on  the  contrary, 
through  all  the  sarcasm  and  severity  of  his  answer  pre 
served  a  steady  pertinence  to  the  subject  of  his  complaint, 
and  adhered  to  the  forms  of  politeness  in  dealing  his 
heaviest  blows.  With  regard  to  the  new  land  of  Canaan, 
he  declared  that  he  knew  as  little  of  its  flesh-pots  as  the 
late  President  seemed  to  do  of  its  laws.  "  But,"  he 
added,  "  I  think  that  when  searching  the  Scriptures  for 
unmeaning  allusions,  Mr.  Jefferson  might  have  discov 
ered  some  precept  to  arrest  him  in  the  unholy  career  of 
first  oppressing  a  fellow-citizen  whom  he  was  bound  to 
protect,  and  then  adding  mockery  to  his  other  outrages." 
While  his  claim  was  before  Congress,  he  had,  on  the  eve 
of  an  adjournment,  as  a  last  means  of  securing  attention, 
addressed  a  circular  letter  to  the  members  of  that  body, 
in  these  words  :  — 

"Sir:  The  peculiarity  of  my  situation  will  justify  me 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

in  renewing  to  you,  individually,  the  appeal  which  has 
repeatedly  been  made  to  the  honorable  body  of  which 
you  are  a  member.  Without  entering  into  any  other 
circumstances  of  my  case,  thus  much  is  without  dispute  : 
that  without  trial  or  any  judicial  process,  I  have,  by 
military  force,  been  driven  from  the  possession  of  a  real 
estate  of  which  I  was  the  bona  fide  purchaser,  for  a  val 
uable  consideration,  from  a  person  in  possession,  and 
under  a  title  recognized  to  be  good  by  the  sentence 
of  a  competent  tribunal,  judging  in  the  last  resort ; 
that  I  am  an  American  citizen,  and  have  never  done 
anything  to  forfeit  the  rights  to  which  that  quality  en 
titles  me ;  and  that  the  United  States  being  in  possession, 
I  have  no  remedy  at  law. 

"  Whether  the  law  of  1807  authorizes  the  proceedings 
against  me  or  not,  or  whatever  were  the  motives  of  those 
proceedings,  my  case  is  equally  one  of  primary  public 
concern,  and  is  that  of  every  individual  in  the  commu 
nity,  for  no  one  has  any  legal  security  which  I  had  not. 
If  the  law  authorizes  such  proceedings,  it  is  unconsti 
tutional ;  if  it  do  not  authorize  them,  the  misconstruc 
tion  ought  to  be  remedied.  I  might,  therefore.  Sir,  with 
out  presumption,  claim  that  interference,  as  a  matter  of 
the  highest  public  duty,  which,  in  my  present  situation, 
I  am  content  to  solicit  as  a  private  favor.  Deprived  of 
a  fortune  that  would  place  me  in  a  state  of  independence, 
I  am,  by  the  act  of  the  government,  reduced  to  poverty, 
and  exposed  to  the  pursuits  of  creditors,  whose  patience 
will,  I  fear,  be  exhausted  by  further  delay  ;  twice  obliged 
to  leave  my  profession  and  place  of  abode,  my  means 
are  exhausted,  and  my  business  lost.  Under  these  cir 
cumstances,  Sir,  I  am  persuaded  that  you  will  not  suffer 
the  trifling  inconvenience  of  a  few  hours'  delay  to  balance 
the  utter  ruin  of  a  fellow-citizen,  who  cannot  trace  his 


THE   BATTURE   CONTROVERSY. 

misfortune  to  any  imprudence  of  his  own,  and  who  only 
asks  that  fair  trial  which  the  Constitution  you  have  sworn 
to  defend  secures  indiscriminately  to  all. 

"Eow.  LIVINGSTON. 

"  23d  June,  1809." 

This  manly  and  pathetic  appeal  the  ex-President,  in  his 
pamphlet,  condescended  to  make  the  topic  of  a  jest,  which 
lacked  the  poor  excuse  of  being  pointed.  "  A  most  un 
grateful  complaint,"  it  runs;  "for  had  he  not  been  re 
moved,  he  must  at  the  time  of  writing  this  letter  have 
been,  as  his  estate  was,  some  ten  or  twelve  feet  under 
water,  the  river  then  being  at  its  greatest  height."  To 
this  Mr.  Livingston  responded  by  setting  out  the  letter 
in  full,  and  appending  only  the  following  commen 
tary  :  — 

"  If  there  be  any  man  who  can  join  Mr.  Jefferson's 
merriment  at  the  terms  of  this  letter,  I  do  not  envy  that 
man's  enjoyments,  and  would  much  rather  be  the  suf 
ferer  under  the  wrongs  there  detailed,  than  the  one, 
however  high  his  office,  who  could  first  inflict  and  then 
deride  them." 

.  Every  argument  and  suggestion  of  his  antagonist  re 
ceives  distinct  notice  in  the  answer  of  Mr.  Livingston. 
Whatever  fact  or  inference  he  cannot  claim  to  be  in  his 
own  favor,  he  admits  with  a  dry  and  robust  candor. 
He  approaches  a  conclusion  in  the  following  sen 
tences  :  — 

"  The  task  I  had  imposed  on  myself  is  now  finished, 
and  I  commit,  with  satisfaction,  my  cause  to  the  public. 
It  is  not  one  of  mere  interest,  either  to  me  or  to  my  ad 
versary  :  as  he  has  managed  it,  the  question  involves 
considerations  of  higher  moment  to  us  both :  I  am  an 
intruder  on  the  public,  or  he  an  invader  of  private  rights. 

23 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

The  only  true  inquiries  were,  Was  the  land  in  question 
the  property  of  the  United  States  1  Had  the  President 
a  right  to  seize  it  if  it  were  1  A  dignified  defence  would 
have  been  confined  to  the  support  of  an  affirmative  answer 
to  these  propositions.  Innocence  would  have  rejected1 
the  doubtful  advantage  to  be  derived  from  even  a  just  at 
tack  ;  integrity  and  honor  would  have  disdained  the  aid 
of  unjust  accusations,  however  plausible ;  magnanimity 
would  have  scorned  the  effect  of  an  appeal  to  popular 
prejudice ;  —  but  in  this  case  we  look  in  vain  for  these 
results." 

Here  follows  a  swift  and  close  recapitulation  of  the 
main  points  of  the  answer,  which  ends  thus :  — 

"  I  now  take  my  leave  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  In  my  an 
swer,  I  have  confined  myself  to  his  book.  Notwithstand 
ing  the  strong  temptations  which  assailed  me  almost  in 
every  page,  I  have  strictly  kept  within  the  boundaries 
of  a  just,  (and,  I  think,  considering  the  wanton  attack,) 
a  mild  defence.  My  future  conduct  will  depend  much 
on  that  of  my  adversary.  I  shall  continue  to  reply  to 
every  argument  that  may  be  addressed  to  the  public  on 
this  subject.  Knowing  that  my  cause  is  good,  I  do  not 
despair,  even  with  humble  pretensions,  to  make  its  jus 
tice  appear.  For  this  purpose,  I  have  always  courted 
investigation ;  I  should  have  preferred  it  in  a  court  of 
justice,  but  do  not  decline  it  before  the  public. 

"  Though  some  may  condemn  me  only  on  hearing  the 
name  of  my  opponent,  there  are  many,  very  many,  in 
the  nation  who  have  independence  enough  to  judge  for 
themselves,  and  the  ability  to  decide  with  correctness ; 
to  such  I  submit  the  merits  of  a  controversy  which  has 
been  rendered  interesting  as  well  from  the  constitutional 
as  the  legal  questions  it  involves,  and  on  which  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  has,  by  his  management  of  it,  staked  his  legal,  his  po- 


THE    BATTURE   CONTROVERSY. 

litical,  and  almost  his  moral  reputation.  That  he  should 
not  have  understood  the  nature  of  my  title  and  the  dif 
ferent  foreign  codes  on  which  it  depends,  is  no  reproach; 
that  he  should  have  acted  at  all  without  this  knowl 
edge  must  surprise,  that  he  should  have  acted  forcibly, 
must  astonish  us  ;  but  that  he  should  persevere  in  the 
same  pretence  of  understanding  the  law  of  France  better 
than  gentlemen  bred  to  it  from  their  childhood,  and  who, 
engaged  on  the  same  side  of  the  controversy  with  him 
self,  have  abandoned  the  ground  he  has  taken, — that  he 
should  obstinately  justify  an  invasion  of  private  property, 
in  a  manner  that  puts  it  in  the  power  of  a  President 
with  impunity  to  commit  acts  of  oppression  at  which 
a  King  would  tremble,  —  that  he  should  do  all  this,  and 
still  talk  of  conscious  rectitude,  must  amaze  all  those 
who  look  only  to  the  reputation  he  has  enjoyed,  and  who 
do  not  consider  the  inconsistency  of  human  nature,  and 
the  deplorable  effects  of  an  inordinate  passion  for  popu 
larity." 

To  show  the  habit  of  Livingston's  mind  in  searching 
for  illustrations  pertinent  to  the  subjects  which  occupied 
his  attention,  I  may  relate  this  anecdote.  His  answer  to 
Mr.  Jefferson  having  been  finished  and  retouched  with 
care,  during  one  of  his  visits  to  the  east,  the  manuscript 
was  given  to  the  printer  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  for 
home.  His  journey  was  by  stage-coach  through  Penn 
sylvania  to  Pittsburg,  and  thence  by  the  rivers.  The 
task  of  revising  the  press  he  left  to  the  kindness  of  a 
friend, — Mr.  Du  Ponceau,  of  Philadelphia.  To  the  latter 
he  wrote,  on  reaching  Pittsburg  :  — 

"  How  will  this  note  do  to  that  part  of  the  work  which 
refutes  the  idea  of  the  land  covered  by  the  inundation 
being  the  bed  of  the  river  ?  It  escaped  me  when  I  was 
with  you. 


180  LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

"  '  Although  I  do  not  think  the  poets  the  very  best 
authority  in  a  juridical  controversy,  nor  am  I  disposed  to 
imitate  Mr.  Jefferson,  when  he  quotes  lines  out  of  St. 
Evremont  to  prove  the  legal  signification  of  a  French 
term,  yet  Virgil  has,  in  one  line,  so  distinctly  marked 
the  difference  between  the  bed  of  the  river  and  the  fields 
which  it  inundates,  that  I  cannot  resist  the  temptation  of 
quoting  the  passage  :  — 

"  aut  pingui  flumine  Nilus, 
Quum  refluit  campzs,  et  jam  se  condidit  al*veo." 

J*ENEID,  1.  9,  v.  31.'  " 

The  suggestion  was  attended  to  by  Mr.  Du  Ponceau, 
and  the  Virgilian  citation  appeared  in  the  work,  along 
with  the  other  authorities  which  the  author  had  brought 
together  in  support  of  his  various  positions. 

The  passages  above  transcribed  are  but  so  many  bricks 
which  fail  to  convey  any  adequate  notion  of  the  archi 
tecture  of  the  work  from  which  they  are  taken.  That, 
to  be  appreciated,  must  be  read  with  the  paper  which 
called  it  forth.  Of  it  the  learned  editor  of  the  periodical 
in  which  both  productions  appeared  together  declared, 
at  the  time,  that  "  to  us  it  appears  to  be  one  of  the  most 
masterly  performances  that  ever  came  from  the  pen  of  a 
lawyer  or  scholar  in  any  country."  And  this  strong 
praise  the  learned  reader  of  the  present  day  will  not  think 
excessive  or  injudicious. 

At  the  period  when  these  arguments  were  published — 
fifty  years  ago  —  it  was  not  easy,  as  it  now  is,  to  draw 
a  general  popular  attention  to  such  questions  as  they  dis 
cuss,  and  the  public  to  which  they  were  really  addressed 
was  a  more  select  one  —  composed  more  exclusively  of 
professional  and  learned  persons  —  than  the  public  to 
which  similar  appeals  would  at  present  be  made.  Thus 
the  conduct  of  Jefferson  on  this  occasion  escaped  in  a 


THE   BATTURE   CONTROVERSY. 

good  degree  that  universal  notice  and  exposure  which, 
in  our  clay,  it  would  have  been  sure  to  receive.  But  the 
recognition  which  was  accorded  to  Livingston  by  some 
of  the  best  and  first  men  of  his  time,  both  as  to  his 
rights  and  his  manner  of  asserting  them,  must  have 
formed  at  least  some  compensation  for  the  wrong  he  had 
suffered.  The  following  letter  he  received  from  his 
former  fellow-student,  then  Chief-Justice  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  soon  afterwards  its  Chancellor,  and  finally 
the  Blackstone  of  American  law :  — 

"Albany,  May  13,  1814. 

"DEAR  SIR  :  Your  favor  of  the  9th  ult.  was  just  now 
received,  and  I  am  sensible  of  the  honor  done  me  by  the 
value  which  you  are  pleased  to  attach  to  my  legal 
opinions.  On  all  questions  depending  on  the  civil  law  my 
researches  are  very  imperfect,  and  I  know  that  you  are 
infinitely  my  superior ;  and  if  I  had  any  doubt  of  your 
title  to  the  batture  after  reading  Jefferson's  pamphlet, 
your  reply  had  completely  removed  it.  I  purchased  the 
reply  as  soon  as  I  heard  it  was  to  be  procured,  and  be 
fore  the  one  you  was  so  kind  as  to  intend  for  me  came 
to  hand,  and  a  more  conclusive  argument  I  never  read. 
Permit  me  to  assure  you  that  I  have  sympathized  with  you 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  controversy,  as  I  took  a  very 
early  impression  that  you  was  cruelly  and  shamefully  per 
secuted,  and  that,  too,  by  the  executive  authority  of  the 
United  States.  I  am  more  and  more  confirmed  in  this 
opinion,  and  Mr.  Jefferson  has  richly  merited  all  the 
reproach  and  indignation  which  your  pamphlet  conveys. 
I  never  doubted  in  the  least  (it  would  have  been  impos 
sible)  that  his  interference  summarily  under  the  act  of 
Congress  was  unauthorized;  but  as  I  read  but  once  his 
book  on  the  title,  and  did  not  examine  his  authorities,  but 


182  LIFE    OF    EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

assumed  them  to  have  been  fairly  cited,  I  was  left  in 
perplexity  and  doubt,  and  had  not  leisure  to  sit  down  to 
a  reexamination  of  the  subject.  When  your  reply  came, 
I  read  it  eagerly,  and  studied  it  thoroughly,  with  a  re- 
examination  of  Jefferson  as  I  went  along;  and  I  should 
now  be  as  willing  to  subscribe  my  name  to  the  validity  of 
your  title  and  to  the  atrocious  injustice  you  have  received, 
as  to  any  opinion  contained  in  Johnson's  Reports.  This 
last  pamphlet  is  the  ablest  work  with  which  you  have 
hitherto  obliged  the  public,  and  it  gives  you  new  and 
increasing  claims  to  their  consideration. 

"  I  always  recollect,  with  pleasure  and  tenderness,  the 
friendship  of  former  days,  and  I  cannot  omit  any  oppor 
tunity  to  assure  you  of  my  constant  esteem  and  regard. 
"  I  am,  dear  Sir, 

"  Yours,  sincerely, 

"  JAMES  KENT. 

"  EDWARD  LIVINGSTON,  Esq." 

The  student  of  our  political  history  cannot  learn  from 
even  the  most  voluminous  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  biographers 
that  he  ever  committed  any  act  of  such  practical  and 
thorough  despotism  as  we  here  see  that  he  did,  and  it 
may  be  difficult  for  ardent  youthful  admirers  of  the  il 
lustrious  teacher  of  democracy  to  believe  the  fact.  Yet 
no  fact  can  be  more  certain  than  that  the  complaint 
of  Mr.  Livingston  was,  in  substance,  altogether  well 
founded  and  true.  It  would  require  but  few  such  acts 
to  make  even  the  name  of  Jefferson  stand  in  history 
for  a  character  such  as  Livingston  was  tempted,  in  an 
eloquent  passage  of  the  work  just  considered,  to  de 
pict  him,  "  the  magistrate  of  a  free  people,  playing  the 
Tartuffe  of  liberty,  —  adoring  it  in  theory,  but  in  prac 
tice  violating  its  most  sacred  principles."  The  truth  is, 


THE  BATTURE  CONTROVERSY.       183 

that  Mr.  Jefferson,  throughout  his  tract,  —  now  published 
with  his  works,  —  betrays  a  sensitive  desire  to  convince 
himself  that  he  had  not,  in  this  instance,  done  scanda 
lous  violence  to  the  great  principles  of  which  he  is  the 
popular  exemplar  ;  and  if  he  had  succeeded  in  this  en 
deavor,  he  would  not,  a  few  years  later,  have  entertained 
nor  testified  the  exalted  respect  for  his  adversary,  proofs 
of  which  will  be  recorded  further  on. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

DISAPPOINTMENT    AND    AFFLICTION. 

Temper  of  Mr.  Livingston  —  Condition  of  Affairs,  caused  by  the  De 
votion  of  his  Time  to  the  Batture  Enterprise  —  Anecdotes  —  A  Scrap  of 
Translation  —  Anxiety  to  end  the  Separation  from  his  Children  —  Letters 
of  Julia  —  Her  Death  —  Letters  to  Lewis  —  The  latter  joins  his  Father. 

MR.  LIVINGSTON'S  temper  proved  itself  perfect, 
throughout  the  controversy  with  Jefferson.  That 
he  felt,  as  keenly  as  any  man  could  feel,  the  vexation, 
disappointment,  and  sense  of  injury  involved  in  the  treat 
ment  he  received,  is  made  clear  by  his  part  in  the  public 
discussion  of  the  case.  But  his  private  demeanor  was 
not  disturbed  by  the  struggle  for  a  single  moment.  There 
was  no  gall  in  his  heart,  and  no  wormwood  in  his  speech. 
In  his  family  and  among  his  friends,  not  a  bitter  word 
towards  his  principal  adversary,  or  towards  the  more 
contemptible  enemies  who  assisted  in  the  work  of  thwart 
ing  him  on  this  occasion,  ever  escaped  his  lips. 

If  he  could  have  foreseen  the  tedious  course  of  the 
litigation,  and  have  chosen  to  abandon  this  property  al 
together  and  rely  upon  his  other  more  regular  resources, 
his  pecuniary  independence  might,  with  good  manage 
ment,  have  been  speedily  accomplished.  But  this  specu 
lation  promised  at  first  such  brilliant  results,  that  the 
unexpected  opposition  he  met  gradually  stimulated  his 
exertions  in  defence  of  his  rights,  till  his  best  energies 
had  been  devoted  to  the  case  so  long,  that,  when  the  war 
broke  out  between  the  United  States  and  England,  in 
18 IS,  the  question  was  yet  in  the  courts,  and  his  prin- 


DISAPPOINTMENT   AND    AFFLICTION.  185 

cipal  debt  was  still  unpaid.  His  resources  for  paying  it 
were  paralyzed  by  the  war.  Money  became  scarce  ;  his 
property  could  not  then  be  disposed  of,  and  even  ordinary 
professional  business  was  much  interrupted.  No  course 
was  left  to  him  but  to  continue,  indefinitely,  his  labor  and 
his  patience. 

All  his  life,  Livingston  was  accustomed  to  long,  daily 
walks,  usually  solitary.  At  this  period,  the  close  of 
the  day  was  the  hour  he  habitually  set  forth,  and  the 
levee  was  the  accustomed  place.  One  evening  he  was 
stopped  by  a  man,  in  a  rustic  dress,  who  asked  him  if 
he  was  Mr.  Livingston. 

«  Yes." 

"  I  thought  so.  I  have  come  to  ask  you  to  lend  me 
a  doubloon." 

"  Lend   you  1  " 

"  Yes,  it  will  be  returned." 

"  But,  why  that  precise  sum  1  " 

"  Less  would  not  serve  my  purpose,  and  more  I  don't 
need." 

Having  the  money  in  his  pocket,  Mr.  Livingston 
handed  the  coin  to  the  stranger  without  further  ado.  The 
latter,  as  cool  in  his  thanks  as  he  had  been  in  his  request, 
went  his  way,  saying,  — 

"  Good  night.    If  I  live  you  will  hear  from  me  again." 

The  above  incident  had  long  been  forgotten,  when  one 
morning,  two  years  afterwards,  whilst  Mr.  Livingston 
was  sitting  at  breakfast  with  his  family,  a  stranger  was 
announced,  who  walked  straight  up  to  the  table,  and  plac 
ing  upon  it  a  shining  doubloon,  proceeded  to  explain  :  — 

"  I  see  that  you  don't  recognize  me.  I  am  the  man 
you  saved  from  ruin  by  lending  me  this  amount  two 
years  ago.  I  owned  a  flat-boat ;  it  had  sunk  with 
all  its  contents,  and  I  was  left  penniless.  I  knew  no  one 

24 


186  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

here,  and  had  no  means  of  getting  back  to  Kentucky. 
I  calculated  that  it  would  take  just  that  sum  to  carry  me 
home.  Had  I  not  heen  ill,  you  would  have  seen  me  last 
year.  But  I  am  here  now,  and  everything  has  prospered 
with  me  since  we  met." 

He  was  asked  what  had  induced  him  to.  think  of  Mr. 
Livingston  in  his  distress  I  He  replied,  "  Well,  I  can't 
tell  exactly,  only  I  came  from  Livingston  County,  in  Ken 
tucky,  which  was  named  in  honor  of  the  author  of  the 
speech  on  the  Alien  bill,  and,  having  had  you  pointed  out 
to  me  as  the  same  man,  I  thought  I  had  more  claim  on 
you  than  on  any  one  else." 

From  another  of  these  walks  he  returned  home  com 
pletely  drenched.  His,  family,  in  surprise  and  alarm,  ex 
claimed  that  he  looked  as  if  he  had  been  in  the  river. 
"  So  I  have,"  said  he,  laughing  heartily.  "As  I  was  walk 
ing  on  the  levee,  I  amused  myself  watching  the  progress 
of  a  little  canoe  crossing  the  river,  with  a  solitary  man 
rowing  it.  Suddenly,  from  some  imprudent  motion, 
the  boat  pitched  on  one  side,  and  the  man  fell  into  the 
water.  Evidently  he  could  not  swim.  I  threw  off  my 
coat,  jumped  in,  got  hold  of  the  man  just  as  he  appeared 
to  be  sinking,  and  brought  him  to  the  boat,  which  was 
righted.  He  seized  the  side,  and,  clambering  in,  rowed 
off' without  looking  at  me,  —  I  suppose  because  I  had  not 
been  properly  introduced  to  him,  —  and  I  was  left  to 
find  the  shore  as  best  I  could,  which,  loaded  as  I  was 
with  clothes  and  boots,  was  not  so  easy  a  matter." 

A  memorandum-book  for  the  pocket,  which  Mr.  Liv 
ingston  carried  in  1809  and  1810,  contains,  so  far  as  I 
know,  the  latest  of  his  attempts  at  poetical  composition. 
He  seems  to  have  been  by  this  time,  and  probably  long 
before,  convinced  that  though  he  had  always  loved  and 
appreciated  the  poets,  the  art  of  lyrical  writing  was  not 


DISAPPOINTMENT    AND    AFFLICTION. 

among  his  own  gifts.  The  attempt  to  which  I  now  refer 
is  a  paraphrase  of  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  ode, 
second  hook,  of  Horace.  It  consists  of  only  six  lines, 
and  closes  abruptly  with  an  unfinished  sentence.  The 
following  is  the  whole  of  this  fragment :  — 

44 '  Ebeu  !  fugaces,  Postume,  Pos turned 
"  They  fly,  my  friend,  they  swiftly  fly, 

These  days  we  pass  so  sweetly ; 

In  vain  doth  worth,  doth  virtue  try 

To  make  them  pass  less  fleetly. 

"  Wrinkles  and  age,  dear  Dan,  they  bring, 
Disease  and  death,  the  care  of  all  " 

The  critical  reader  will  perhaps  think  that  he  judged 
rightly  in  reserving  for  compositions  of  a  very  different 
species  the  perseverance  of  which  a  striking  illustration 
is  hereafter  to  be  given. 

During  this  epoch  his  anxiety  to  be  reunited  to  his 
children  increased  from  year  to  year.  Julia  was  approach 
ing  womanhood,  beautiful,  accomplished,  and  amiable, 
and  he  was  debarred  from  witnessing  her  daily  progress. 
But  his  correspondence  with  her  was  constant.  I  have 
now  before  me  a  package  of  her  letters,  written  to  her 
father  in  1810  and  1811.  Some  of  them  enclose  letters 
to  her  step-mother,  written  in  French.  Towards  her 
father,  they  breathe  a  love  and  respect  almost  idolatrous. 
In  one  of  them,  dated  at  Philadelphia,  she  says,  "  The 
principal  reason,  I  believe,  of  my  being  so  pleased  with 
this  city,  is  because  almost  every  one  here  speaks  of  you 
in  such  high  terms,  and  appears  to  take  so  much  interest 
in  your  welfare.  And,  now,  adieu,  my  dear,  my  be 
loved  father ;  believe  me  that  I  love  you  most  truly,  most 
tenderly ;  that  my  whole  heart  is  yours,  except  one  cor 
ner  of  it,  which  is  devoted  to  the  memory  of  her  who 
alone  had  an  equal  share  with  you  in  the  affections  of 
your  Julia." 


138  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

The  mind  and  person  of  this  child  were  impressed  with 
a  peculiar  delicacy  and  a  certain  melancholy  which  al 
ways  seemed  to  foreshadow  an  early  decline.  The  soli 
citude  of  her  father  on  this  account  became  anxiety  in 
the  winter  of  1813,  and,  in  the  following  summer,  alarm. 
In  August,  the  account  he  received  of  her  he  considered 
as  a  summons  to  New  York,  if  he  would  see  her  again. 
The  voyage  was  rendered  uncertain  and  dangerous  by 
the  state  of  the  war.  He  embarked,  however,  by  the 
first  opportunity,  on  board  a  schooner  which  narrowly 
escaped  capture,  and,  after  an  unexpectedly  tedious  pas 
sage,  arrived  safely  at  New  York,  about  the  middle  of 
October.  He  hastened,  with  an  anxious  heart,  to  the 
house  of  his  brother  in  Greenwich  Street,  though  he  was 
aware  that  the  family  were  at  their  country-seat  on  the 
Hudson.  After  hurriedly  inquiring  about  the  family 
of  the  servant  who  opened  the  door,  he  asked,  "  How  is 
Miss  Livingston  I  "  The  servant,  not  knowing  who  he 
was,  replied,  "  She  was  buried,  Sir,  yesterday."  The 
tender  father  staggered  under  the  blow,  and  carried  its 
visible  traces,  not  only  upon  his  sad,  returning  journey, 
but  for  a  long  time  afterwards.  In  his  first  interview 
with  his  wife  and  child  on  reaching  home,  he  could 
scarcely  speak  of  his  grief,  and  convulsive  sobs  were 
mingled  with  the  few  words  he  uttered  upon  the  subject. 
He  shortly  afterwards  wrote  to  one  of  his  sisters  :  — 

"  Do  not,  I  entreat  you,  think  me  wanting  in  that 
affection  I  have  always  borne  you,  from  my  not  writing 
you  since  my  arrival.  I  can  only  trust  my  pen  on  sub 
jects  of  business,  and  I  strive  to  confine  my  thoughts 
to  the  same  object.  The  bustle  of  my  profession  keeps 
me  from  a  retrospect  to  which  if  I  were  to  give  way, 
I  should  lose  myself  forever." 

He   now   felt  an  absolute  necessity  for  the  companion- 


V 

({1 

DISAPPOINTMENT   AND    AFFLICTIO 


ship  of  his  son,  a  youth  in  all  respects  worthy  of  his 
tion  and  care.  The  latter  had  returned  before  1810  to 
New  York,  having  lived  several  years  at  the  American 
legation  in  Paris.  Possessing  a  manly  character  and  a 
precocious  mind,  his  letters  and  the  accounts  given  of 
him  by  his  friends  had  inspired  his  father  with  proud 
anticipations  for  his  future.  The  course  of  his  studies 
received  constantly  the  paternal  attention  and  advice. 
But  so  distant  a  supervision  of  one  so  dear  could  not 
satisfy  the  heart  of  the  parent.  In  May,  1812,  the 
latter  had  written :  — 

"  My  dear  boy,  should  I  be  disappointed  in  coming 
out  this  summer,  by  war  or  other  accident,  it  is  my  in 
tention  that  you  should  join  me  in  the  fall,  by  the  way 
of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi.  I  shall  find  some  friend 
to  accompany  you,  who  is  coming  that  way  ;  you  shall 
pass  the  winter  here ;  in  the  spring  we  all  return  to 
gether,  and  from  that  time  we  shall  not  part  any  more. 
I  learn  with  great  pleasure,  my  dear  son,  that  all  your 
relations  are  pleased  with  your  manners  and  your  progress. 
Do  they  flatter  me  when  they  say  so  1  I  hope  not ;  I 
believe  not ;  if  they  do,  it  depends  only  on  you  to  make 
their  flattery  truth." 

I  here  transcribe  in  full  three  letters  of  the  father  to 
the  son,  written  at  this  period :  — 

LETTER    NO.    I. 

"N.  O.,  26th  July,  1812. 

"  Your  letter,  my  dear  boy,  of  the  1st  of  June  is  just 
received,  and  it  gives  me  some  uneasiness  to  find  that 
none  of  those  I  had  written  to  you  before  that  have  come 
to  hand.  Of  two  I  had  sent  since,  one  has  been  returned 
to  me,  as  the  vessel  was  stopped  at  the  Balize  by  the 
declaration  of  war,  and  the  other  is  probably  taken. 


190  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

Our  communications  in  future  must  be  altogether  by  land ; 
and  if  the  Indians  should  commence  hostilities,  even  this 
will  be  a  very  precarious  conveyance,  for  you  know,  I 
suppose,  that  in  order  to  arrive  here  by  land  we  must  pass 
through  several  tribes  of  Indians.  This  circumstance 
will,  I  fear,  prevent  our  meeting  as  soon  as  I  expected. 
In  the  present  state  of  things,  I  do  not  choose  that  you 
should  come  to  me  as  I  intended,  nor  can  I  with  safety 
visit  you.  We  must  therefore  indemnify  ourselves  by 
greater  punctuality  in  our  correspondence  for  the  mis 
fortunes  which  continue  to  separate  us. 

"  All  the  accounts  I  receive  from  your  relations  are  such 
as  I  wish.  They  speak  highly  of  your  conduct,  your 
deportment,  and  your  diligence.  Continue,  my  dear 
child,  to  deserve  the  approbation  of  your  friends,  and  you 
will  become  what  it  is  my  first  wish  you  should  be,  a 
well  informed,  and,  above  all,  a  good  man.  Preserve  a 
rigid,  an  inflexible  regard  for  truth  :  it  is  the  foundation 
of  almost  every  virtue.  He  who  always  tells  the  truth 
can  neither  be  a  knave  or  a  coward.  The  reputation 
of  always  adhering  to  it  gives  a  respectability  which  nei 
ther  riches  nor  talents  can  procure  ;  whereas  he  who  has 
unfortunately  acquired  a  contrary  character  can  neither 
be  esteemed,  loved,  or  trusted.  Let  me  hear,  then,  when 
we  meet,  that  you  have  never  been  known  either  from 
fear  or  any  other  motive  to  have  disguised  the  truth,  and 
I  shall  embrace  you  with  double  delight. 

"  I  sent  on  some  weeks  since  to  your  uncle  C.  a  sum 
of  money,  out  of  which  I  desired  him  to  pay  you  fifty 
dollars.  It  is  my  intention  that  you  should  dispose  of 
this  sum  exactly  as  you  think  proper,  with  or  without 
the  advice  of  your  friends.  Every  six  months  you  shall 
have  the  same  amount,  so  you  may  regulate  your  expenses 
accordingly. 


DISAPPOINTMENT   AND    AFFLICTION. 

"  But  you  are  by  no  means  and  on  no  occasion  to  bor 
row  any  money,  or  in  any  other  way  to  make  any  debts. 
This  direction  I  hope  you  will  scrupulously  attend  to,  not 
only  now  but  throughout  life. 

"  Your  letter  was  fortunately  fifty  days  in  corning  to 
me,  or  the  prophecy  of  your  man  from  the  state-prison 
would  have  thrown  us  into  consternation.  The  fourth 
of  June  passed  away  quietly ;  and  if  two  thirds  of  the 
world  were  then  destroyed,  we  inhabit  the  favored  part. 

"  Farewell,  my  beloved  son ;  may  Heaven  bless  and  pre 
serve  you. 

"  EDW.  LIVINGSTON." 

LETTER  NO.  II. 

"  N.  O.t  i4th  September,  1812. 

"  I  have  just  received,  my  dear  son,  your  letter  of  the 
15th  of  August.  The  last  post  brought  me  another. 
I  am  well  pleased  with  the  frequency  of  your  letters,  and 
with  the  letters  themselves.  Your  hand  is  already  very 
well  formed,  and  your  style  will  become  more  easy  and 
elegant  every  time  you  write.  Frequent  translations  will 
also  have  that  effect.  You  cannot  yet,  I  suppose,  enter 
into  the  beauties  of  any  of  the  Latin  authors.  As  soon 
as  you  can,  select  one  of  the  passages  which  pleases  you 
most,  and  make  a  free  translation  of  it.  This,  I  suppose 
you  know,  means  giving  the  same  idea  which  your  author 
expresses  in  different  words,  whereas  a  literal  translation 
preserves  the  very  words  of  the  original.  In  the  mean 
time,  pursue  the  same  course  in  the  French  and  English 
languages,  taking  your  favorite  author  in  each,  and  se 
lecting  the  passages  which  strike  you  most.  Rollin  is  a 
very  good  book  to  impress  facts  upon  your  mind,  but  I 
would  not  have  you  copy  his  style,  especially  in  the 
English  translation  ;  I  would  have  preferred  your  getting 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

it  in  the  original ;  and,  since  you  are  making  a  collection, 
I  advise  you  never  to  purchase,  or  even  read  a  translation, 
if  you  can  get  the  original.  I  want  to  know  your  taste. 
Dp  you  read  poetry  or  prose  with  most  pleasure  I  and  of 
poetry  which  do  you  like  best,  the  French  or  English  ? 
Which  is  your  favorite  author  1  Let  me  know  all  this 
when  you  write,  and  particularly  what  is  your  course  of 
study  and  the  division  of  your  time.  I  cannot  repeat  to 
you  too  often  that  method  is  as  important  as  applica 
tion.  Have  a  fixed  time  for  each  study  and  pursuit,  and 
do  not  let  them  interfere  with  each  other.  You  are  at 
an  age  now,  when,  with  an  ardent  desire  to  learn,  you 
may  make  yourself  master  of  anything.  Without  this 
you  will  never  learn  anything,  for  I  do  not  call  learning, 
getting  a  slight,  parrot  knowledge  of  any  subject  or 
science.  Learn  what  you  undertake  thoroughly ;  never 
be  content  while  there  is  any  one  who  knows  more  of  it 
than  yourself;  and  remember  you  are  to  do  this  yourself. 
The  best  masters  can  only  point  out  the  road,  —  you 
must  travel  it  yourself ;  they  may,  indeed,  remove  diffi 
culties  that  might  otherwise  stop  you,  but,  after  all, 
they  cannot  carry  you,  —  you  must  march  through  on 
your  own  legs.  I  enclose  letters  from  your  mamma  and 
little  sister  ;  the  latter  entreats  that  you  will  answer  with 
out  delay.  It  is  her  very  first  effort,  and  she  would  be 
dreadfully  mortified  if  you  were  to  neglect  her.  God 
bless  you,  my  dear  boy  ! 

"  Most  affectionately  yours, 

"  EDW.  LIVINGSTON." 

LETTER    NO.    III. 

"  March,  1813. 

"  MY  DEAR  SON  :  I  learn  with  very  great  affliction  of 
the  death  of  your  cousin  H.  and  the  increased  illness   of 


DISAPPOINTMENT   AND    AFFLICTION.  193 

your  uncle.*  They  are  calculated  to  teach  us  that  neither 
youth,  talents,  or  fortune,  can  secure  happiness  here.  The 
innocence  and  filial  affection  of  the  one  has  already  secured 
to  him  that  reward  which  the  many  virtues  of  the  other 
will  prepare  for  him  whenever  he  is  taken  from  us.  I  pray 
Heaven,  that,  notwithstanding  appearances,  this  may  be 
long  deferred,  and  that  he  may  yet  live  to  multiply  those 
good  acts  and  services  to  his  country  which  have  endeared 
his  name  to  all  those  who  wish  its  prosperity.  The  dif 
ficulties  and  dangers  of  travelling  by  land  have  increased 
so  much  that  I  must  defer  my  return  until  the  steamboats 
are  established  from  this  up  the  Ohio.  The  one  employed 
from  here  to  Natchez  will  make  the  experiment  in  about 
a  month.  Should  her  voyage  succeed,  of  which  I  have 
little  doubt,  I  shall  take  passage  in  her  on  the  second 
trip  in  the  month  of  August.  My  movements,  however, 
will  be  very  much  influenced  by  the  news  I  hear  from 
Washington.  At  any  rate,  my  dear  boy,  most  decidedly 
you  must  be  with  me  wrherever  I  am  next  winter  ;  my 
life  wastes  away  at  a  distance  from  my  children,  and 
I  may  die  before  they  have  known  me.  I  receive  from 
everybody  accounts  which  highly  gratify  me  of  your 
character,  attention,  and  behaviour.  Continue,  my  dear 
child,  to  deserve  these  praises,  and  to  merit  new  eulo- 
giums.  Strive  to  merit  more  than  to  receive  them.  Esse 
quam  videri  is  a  good  motto,  but  in  the  end  they  amount 
to  the  same.  Sooner  or  later  the  world  will  find  us  out ; 
our  good  qualities  and  talents  will  be  admired,  our 
faults  and  vices  exposed,  whatever  care  we  take  to  conceal 
them ;  and  we  shall  appear  what  we  really  are  whenever 
the  veil  is  torn  off,  That  of  merit  is  modesty  ;  that  of 
vice,  hypocrisy.  Wear  the  first  always,  —  the  worthy 
know  what  treasures  it  conceals  ;  the  last  is  subject  to 

*  Chancellor  Livingston. 
25 


194*  LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

be  drawn  aside  by  a  thousand  accidents,  and  the  vile  fea 
tures  beneath  it  are  exposed  to  the  derision  of  the  world. 
"  When  your  sister  arrives  in  the  country,  as  I  suppose 
she  will  shortly  after  this  reaches  you,  go  and  spend  some 
days  with  her.  There  is  no  reason  why  my  children 
should  be  separated  from  each  other,  although  I  am  forced 
to  be  so  from  them.  Farewell,  my  dear  son ;  receive  the 
blessing  of  your  affectionate  father, 

"  EDW.  LIVINGSTON." 

The  plan  of  bringing  Lewis  to  New  Orleans  had  not 
been  carried  out  before  the  melancholy  visit  to  the  North, 
as  these  letters  show,  and  the  affairs  of  Mr.  Livingston 
would  necessarily  keep  him  yet  for  some  time  in  Loui 
siana.  He  therefore  resolved  to  be  separated  from  the 
youth  no  longer,  and  took  him  to  New  Orleans  on  his 
return.  It  resulted  that  the  education  of  the  latter  was 
varied  by  an  active  participation  in  the  stirring  events 
of  the  close  of  the  next  and  beginning  of  the  following 
years,  —  the  memorable  campaign  for  the  defence  of  New 
Orleans. 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE    BATTLE   OF   NEW   ORLEANS. 

Mr.  Livingston's  Services  in  the  Campaign  — His  Qualifications  —  His 
previous  Acquaintance  with  General  Jackson  —  Meeting  of  Citizens  in  Sep 
tember,  1814 —  Appointment  of  a  Committee  of  Safety  —  Address  of  the 
Committee  to  the  People  —  Successful  Defence  of  Fort  Bowyer  —  Procla 
mations  by  Jackson — His  Appearance  and  Reception  in  the  City — His 
Intimacy  with  Livingston  —  Contrast  and  Concord  between  them  —  Mul 
tifarious  Services  of  the  latter  during  the  Campaign — Proclamation  of  Mar 
tial  Law  —  Gallantry  of  the  young  Lewis — Dangerous  Service  in  the 
Night-battle  of  December  23d —  Pleasantry  under  Difficulties —  Rejoicings 
in  the  City  after  the  Decisive  Repulse  of  the  Enemy  —  Influence  of  Liv 
ingston  in  Jackson's  Military  Councils  —  The  Lafittes  —  The  Draughting 
of  Reports,  General  Orders,  Addresses,  etc.  —  Despatch  of  Colonel  Living 
ston  to  the  British  Fleet  to  negotiate  an  Exchange  of  Prisoners  —  His  De 
tention  and  Return  to  the  City  with  News  of  Peace  —  Arrest  of  Judge  Hall 
under  Martial  Law  —  Subsequent  Arraignment  of  General  Jackson  for  Con 
tempt  of  Court  —  Defence  of  the  latter  prepared  by  Livingston  —  Minia 
ture  of  Jackson  presented  by  him  to  his  Friend —  Project  of  a  Life  of  the 
General  —  Mutual  Attachment  established  between  him  and  Livingston. 

THE  detention  of  Mr.  Livingston  at  New  Orleans, 
so  long  deprecated  by  him  as  we  have  seen,  en 
abled  him,  in  this  celebrated  campaign,  to  render  services 
to  his  country  the  most  opportune  and  the  most  signal. 
Indeed,  there  was  no  other  man  on  the  spot  at  all  quali 
fied  for  the  very  comprehensive  work  which  he  then  per 
formed.  His  knowledge  of  the  people  and  of  the  situa 
tion  was  complete.  His  influence  was  extended  among 
all  cjasses.  His  judgment  was  cool,  while  his  patriotism 
was  wrought  up  so  as  to  command  all  his  energies  and 
all  his  resources.  Besides,  he  knew  and  was  known 
to  General  Jackson  ;  for,  as  has  been  already  partially 


196  LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

shown,  when  they  had  been,  eighteen  years  before,  fel 
low-members  of  Congress,  —  the  one  a  polished  orator, 
representing  the  principal  city  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  the 
other  an  unfashionable  figure  from  the  wilds  of  Ten 
nessee,  —  they  had  been  political  brothers  and  friends. 

In  the  first  place,  Livingston  perceived  afar  off  the 
danger  of  invasion  which  threatened  the  city,  and  took 
active  steps  to  awaken  and  prepare  the  people.  Of  this 
there  was  much  need ;  because  the  very  mixed  population 
of  the  city,  though  loyal  and  patriotic  at  heart,  were  yet 
indolent,  incredulous,  and  occupied  with  local  contentions. 
On  the  15th  of  September  a  meeting  of  citizens  as 
sembled,  at  which  he  presided  and  delivered  a  speech, 
producing  a  thrilling  effect,  and  offered  a  series  of  reso 
lutions,  affirming  a  faithful  attachment  to  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States,  a  full  faith  that  the  coun 
try  was  capable  of  defence,  and  a  determination  to 
risk  lives  and  fortunes  in  defending  it.  The  resolutions 
were  adopted  by  acclamation ;  and  the  meeting  proceeded 
to  appoint  a  committee  of  nine,  "  to  cooperate  with  the 
constituted  civil  and  military  authorities  in  suggesting 
means  of  defence,  and  calling  forth  the  energies  of  the 
country,  to  repel  invasion  and  preserve  domestic  tran 
quillity."  Of  the  committee,  Mr.  Livingston  was  made 
chairman. 

The  "  constituted  civil  authorities"  referred  to  in  the 
resolution  were  even  more  sluggish  than  the  people  at 
large  in  comprehending  the  public  danger,  and  were 
'  specially  engaged  in  paltry  squabbles,  unworthy  even  of 
politicians,  in  the  absence  of  a  better  employment.  Of  the 
negative  qualities  of  the  Governor,  Claiborne,  Mr.  Liv 
ingston  had  good  reason  to  be  aware,  as  we  have  seen. 

The  committee  immediately  issued  an  address — drawn 
up  by  Mr.  Livingston — to  the  people  of  the  State.  It 


THE    BATTLE    OF    NEW   ORLEANS.  \Cfj 

was  a  concise  and  stirring  appeal  to  the  sentiments  and 
motives  of  every  class ;  and  its  effect  was  profound  and 
pervading.  The  exertions  of  the  committee  were  active 
and  continued.  On  the  21st  of  the  month,  and  the  mo 
ment  of  receiving  news  of  the  successful  defence  of  Fort 
Bowyer,  at  Mohile  Point,  it  resolved  on  presenting  "  a 
sabre,  with  a  suitable  inscription  and  proper  emblems," 
to  Major  Lawrence,  the  gallant  and  skilful  commander 
of  the  garrison,  whose  obstinate  bravery  had  achieved 
that  important  victory.  Two  clanging  proclamations  of 
General  Jackson  —  one  to  Louisianians,  the  other  to  the 
free  colored  people  of  the  State — immediately  followed; 
and  these  events  and  appeals  excited  the  people  to  a  high 
pitch  of  loyalty,  confidence,  and  unanimity. 

Jackson  had  received  his  appointment  as  Major-Gen- 
eral  in  the  army  of  the  United  States  in  the  previous 
month  of  May.  He  was  now  at  Mobile,  sternly  resolved 
to  defend  the  Southwest  from  invasion.  With  him 
Livingston  corresponded,  furnishing  him  with  maps  and 
information  during  the  interval  until  his  arrival,  on  the 
2d  of  December,  at  New  Orleans.  At  the  head  of  his 
committee,  and  in  company  with  the  Governor  and  other 
authorities,  he  was  among  those  who  first  welcomed  the 
General  on  his  entrance  into  the  city.  The  formal  ad 
dress  was  made  by  the  Governor.  General  Jackson's 
response  briefly  expressed  a  fierce  determination  to  save 
the  city,  and  a  confident  demand  for  the  unanimous  aid 
of  the  citizens  in  the  task.  His  words  fell  without  their 
proper  effect  upon  most  of  the  ears  present,  because  the 
latter  were  unfamiliar  with  the  English  language.  "This 
address,"  says  Walker,  "was  rendered  into  French  by 
Mr.  Livingston.  It  produced  an  electric  effect  upon  all 
present.  Their  countenances  cleared  up,"  etc. 

The  same  day  the  General  dined  at  the  house  of  Mr. 


198  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

Livingston,  and  during  the  remainder  of  the  campaign 
the  two  were  almost  inseparable.  In  their  general  traits 
and  qualifications  two  men  could  scarcely  be  more  un 
like  ;  but  the  contrast  was  such  as  to  produce  between 
them  a  most  perfect  accord  at  all  times,  and  especially 
in  the  emergency  which  had  then  brought  them  together. 
Mr.  Livingston  served  as  aide-de-camp,  military  secretary, 
interpreter,  orator,  spokesman,  and  confidential  adviser 
upon  all  subjects.  He  furnished  an  opinion  in  writing 
on  the  question  of  martial  law,  justifying  its  proclama 
tion  in  case  of  a  clear  necessity,  but  not  favoring  the 
step  in  any  other  event.  This  opinion  retarded,  for  a 
few  days,  the  adoption  of  the  measure;  but  on  the  15th 
of  December,  it  was  foreshadowed  in  an  eloquent  proc 
lamation  of  the  General,  drawn  up  by  Livingston,  and 
on  the  following  day,  martial  law  was  declared. 

Mr.  Livingston  did  not  omit  the  opportunity  of  allow 
ing  his  only  and  beloved  son  to  pass  through  the  lessons 
and  perils  of  the  situation.  Under  date  of  the  16th  of 
December,  the  youth  wrote  to  his  aunt,  Mrs.  Mont 
gomery  :  — 

"  General  Jackson  arrived  here  about  a  fortnight  since, 
and  I  have  been  all  this  time  with  him,  visiting  the  dif 
ferent  posts.  He  has  promised  to  receive  me  into  his 
staff'.  To-morrow  I  am  to  have  my  appointment  as  en 
gineer,  with  the  rank  of  Captain  or  Lieutenant,  I  know 
not  which.  Great  bustle  but  little  alarm  now  prevail  in 
town.  We  daily  expect  the  enemy  to  make  an  attack 
upon  this  place.  We  are  ready,  however,  to  receive  them. 
All  the  militia  are  now  doing  duty,  and  will  leave  town 
in  a  few  days,  and  all  do  it  with  pleasure  ;  they  vie  with 
each  other  in  showing  their  zeal.  There  now  reigns 
but  one  party;  all  are  determined  to  oppose  the  enemy; 
and  even  my  father,  seized  with  a  patriotic  or  military 


THE    BATTLE   OF    NEW  ORLEANS.  199 

ardor,  has  offered  himself,  and  has  been  received  as  vol 
unteer  aid  to  General  Jackson.  The  martial  law  was 
published  this  morning,  and  is  now  in  execution.  But 
I  am  writing  a  newspaper,  not  a  letter." 

The  place  assigned  to  the  youth  was  that  of  assistant- 
engineer  under  Major  Latour, — afterwards  historian  of 
the  campaign,  —  with  the  rank  of  Captain.  He  bore 
himself  bravely.  On  the  6th  of  January,  his  father  wrote 
proudly  to  Mrs.  Montgomery :  "  Lewis  has  been  in  two 
actions,  and  has  behaved  with  the  utmost  gallantry." 
And  he  gained  the  honor  of  being  praised  by  name 
along  with  the  chief  engineer,  "  for  talents  and  bravery," 
in  general  orders,  at  the  .close  of  the  campaign. 

On  the  18th  of  December,  Sunday,  General  Jackson 
reviewed  all  the  troops  in  the  city,  upon  the  public  square. 
The  whole  population  was  present,  and  contributed  all 
in  its  power  to  give  eclat  and  brilliancy  to  the  display. 
It  was,  considering  its  materials,  a  most  successful  and 
inspiriting  pageant.  At  its  close,  Livingston,  standing 
near  the  Commanding-General,  read  before  the  troops  and 
the  assembled  multitude,  in  tones  never  forgotten  by  those 
who  heard  them,  an  address  which  moved  the  enthusiasm 
of  every  class.  It  was  a  most  timely  and  skilful  appeal 
to  all  the  leading  sentiments  and  motives  of  a  motley 
population,  —  Americans,  Frenchmen,  Spaniards,  Ger 
mans,  and  men  of  color.  It  was  a  masterpiece  of  elo 
quence,  and  stirred  to  its  depths  the  patriotic  spirit  of 
the  whole  multitude. 

The  fighting  soon  commenced.  Throughout  the  cam 
paign,  Livingston,  in  addition  to  his  other  manifold  tasks, 
constantly  performed  the  dangerous  duties  of  aide-de-camp. 
In  this  capacity,  on  the  evening  of  the  23d  of  December, 
he  went  on  board  the  Caroline,  and  explained  to  Com 
modore  Patterson  General  Jackson's  plan  for  the  com- 


200  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

bined  attack  upon  the  British  force,  encamped  at  Villere's 
plantation.  In  the  night-battle  which  followed,  he  was 
much  exposed  while  carrying  the  General's  orders  on 
horseback  in  all  directions.  His  bravery  on  this  occa 
sion  was  particularly  acknowledged  by  Jackson,  in  his 
official  despatch  reporting  the  engagement ;  and,  in  the 
general  orders  at  the  close  of  the  campaign,  dated  the 
21st  of  January,  it  was  declared  that  "  the  General's  aides- 
de-camp,  Thomas  L.  Butler  and  Captain  John  Reid,  as 
well  as  his  volunteer  aids,  Messrs.  Livingston,  Duncan, 
Grimes,  Duplessis,  and  Major  Davezac  de  Castera,* 
the  judge-advocate,  have  merited  the  thanks  of  the  Gen 
eral  by  the  calm  and  deliberate  courage  they  have  dis 
played  on  every  occasion  and  in  every  situation  that 
called  it  forth." 

Livingston's  love  of  pleasantry  was  perpetual,  and  did 
not  forsake  him  even  in  the  midst  of  the  cares  and 
dangers  of  a  position  to  him  so  novel.  Mr.  Nolte,  a 
merchant,  was  one  of  his  clients,  and  had  joined  one  of 
the  volunteer  companies  of  the  city  to  aid  in  its  defence. 
When  the  experiment  of  using  cotton  bales  for  filling 
redoubts  was  adopted  by  Jackson,  a  quantity  belonging 
to  Nolte  was  first  taken  from  a  vessel  in  the  stream  which 
was  ready  for  sailing  at  the  time  the  British  fleet  ap 
peared.  Nolte,  on  recognizing  his  property  thus  used, 
complained  to  Mr.  Livingston,  declaring  it  to  be  an 
outrage  to  take  his  cotton,  which  was  of  the  best  qual 
ity  and  already  shipped,  while  there  was  plenty  of  a 
much  cheaper  sort  to  be  had  in  the  suburbs.  "  Well, 
Mr.  Nolte,"  said  Livingston,  "  if  this  is  your  cotton,  you 
at  least  will  not  think  it  any  hardship  to  defend  it."  f 

*  The  brother  of  Mrs.  Livingston,  t  Nolte  relates   this   anecdote    in 

afterwards  sent  by  President  Jackson  his  book  entitled  Fifty  Years  in  both 

as  charge   d'affaires  of  the    United  Hemispheres.     I    should    not    repeat 

States  at  the  Hague.  it  on  the  testimony  of  this  lively  but 


THE    BATTLE    OF    NEW   ORLEANS. 

At  this  exact  period  his  letters  by  every  post  to  his 
sisters  at  the  North  reveal  the  fact  that  he  was  laboring 
under  something  like  a  presentiment  concerning  his  own 
fate.  His  farewells  in  these  letters  were  more  tender 
than  usual,  and  on  the  6th  of  January  he  wrote  to  Mrs. 
Montgomery  :  — 

"  The  service  is  dangerous,  and  we  have  lost  many  re 
spectable  citizens  ;  but  the  survivors  are  animated  with 
a  glorious  spirit,  and  if  we  fail,  the  enemy  will  not  find 
us  an  easy  conquest.  Farewell,  my  dear  sister ;  the 
chances  are  now  greatly  increased  against  our  meeting. 
Assure  all  my  relations  to  whom  I  cannot  write,  that  I 
love  them  very  affectionately." 

But  both  father  and  son  escaped  all  harm.  Lewis,  — 
the  boy-captain,  —  in  the  following  passage  of  one  of  his 
letters  to  Mrs.  Montgomery,  dated  February  2,  described 
the  fete,  and  triumph  which  greeted  the  victorious  army 
on  its  return  to  the  city.  I  transcribe  it,  for  its  fresh 
ness,  from  the  original  letter  now  lying  before  me  :  — 

"  Was  there  ever  a  finer  sight,  or  a  more  affecting 
one,  than  that  which  presented  itself  to  our  view  on 
the  23d  ultimo,  when  the  main  body  of  the  army,  mostly 
composed  of  fathers  of  families,  returned,  with  their  brave 
and  modest  leader,  General  Jackson,  at  their  head,  amidst 
the  acclamations  of  an  immense  multitude  of  old  men, 
women,  and  children,  (the  only  ones  who  did  not  share 
in  the  dangers  of  the  field,)  who  all  hailed  them  as  the 
saviours  of  their  country  and  themselves '?.... 

"  On  the  24th,  the  General,  accompanied  by  all  his 
staff,  proceeded  to  the  Cathedral,  where  a  grand  Te  Deum 
was  to  be  sung.  On  the  public  square,  facing  the  build 
ing,  was  erected  a  triumphal  arch.  On  both  sides  of 

most  mendacious  writer  alone.       It  Orleans,  not  long  after  the  campaign, 

is  confirmed  to  me  by  the  memory  and   of   course,   many  years    before 

of  those  who  heard  the  story  at  New  Mr.  Nolte's  volume  appeared. 
26 


LIFE  OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

this,  a  few  steps  back,  were  stationed  our  best-looking 
troops  ;  and  in  front  of  these,  nearest  to  the  arch,  were 
to  be  seen  eighteen  young  ladies,  dressed  in  the  same 
apparel,  and  each  representing  one  of  the  States.  In  the 
middle  of  the  arch  there  were  two  little  children,  stand 
ing  on  two  thrones,  erected  on  both  sides,  between  the 
columns  of  the  arch.  Each  held  a  crown  in  her  hand  : 
General  Jackson  easily  found  out  who  they  were  for  ; 
his  modesty  suffered,  but  he  was  obliged  to  submit.  He 
passed  through  the  arch  and  was  crowned,  amidst  the 
huzzas  of  the  Americans,  and  acclamations  of  the  French, 
who  did  not  cease  to  repeat,  '  Vive  Jackson  !  Vive  notre 
General ! ' 

After  the  decisive  battle  of  the  8th  of  January,  Gen 
eral  Jackson  felt  a  strong  inclination  to  follow  up  the 
victory  by  attacking  the  enemy  in  his  position  ;  and  he 
had  nearly  resolved  upon  doing  so,  when  a  council  of 
officers  was  called  to  consider  the  plan.  At  this  council, 
Mr.  Livingston  —  bearing  the  temporary  and  for  him 
odd  title  of  Colonel  —  was  the  first  to  speak  in  oppo 
sition  to  the  scheme,  as  too  full  of  needless  hazard.  His 
views,  seconded  by  General  Adair,  prevailed  with  the 
Commander-in-Chief,  who,  after  hearing  these  two  ad 
visers  state  their  opinions  with  great  clearness  and  force, 
determined  upon  the  more  prudent  course. 

The  vehement  Commander-in-Chief  yielded,  on  more 
than  one  occasion  during  the  short  campaign,  to  prudent 
suggestions  made  by  his  friend,  and  in  one  important,  if 
not  vital  matter,  suffered  the  same  mild  influence  to  over 
rule  a  judgment  into  which  he  had  prematurely  rushed, 
but  to  which  he  had  distinctly  committed  himself.  In 
one  of  the  two  proclamations  already  mentioned,  to  the 
people  of  Louisiana,  which  he  sent  forward  from  Mobile, 
in  September,  and  before  he  had  come  to  rely  upon  Liv- 


THE    BATTLE    OF   NEW   ORLEANS. 

ingston's  pen  for  the  composition  of  such  papers,  he 
had  referred  to  an  attempt  of  the  British  commanders 
to  "  court  an  alliance  with  pirates  and  robbers,"  and  to 
their  having-  made  offers  to  "  the  pirates  of  Barataria," 
whom  he  characterized  as  "  a  hellish  banditti."  These 
"  pirates  of  Barataria "  were  a  company  of  smugglers 
and  outlaws,  ruled  by  Jean  Lafitte,  who  had  extensive 
dealings  with  the  privateers  then  ranging  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  under  commissions  from  their  Christian  majesties 
of  England,  France,  and  Spain,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
on  the  other  with  the  merchants  of  New  Orleans.  The 
character  of  Jean  Lafitte,  of  his  brothers  Pierre  and 
Dominique,  and  of  their  band,  was  better  understood  by 
the  people  of  New  Orleans  and  by  Mr.  Livingston  than 
by  General  Jackson.  Early  in  September,  Colonel  Nich 
ols,  of  the  British  army,  had  made  an  earnest  overture 
to  Jean  Lafitte  to  tempt  the  latter  and  his  Baratarians 
to  join  in  the  invasion  of  Louisiana.  Lafitte,  feigning 
a  willingness  to  comply,  but  declaring  that  some  time 
and  some  mystery  would  be  necessary  for  making  his 
preparations,  immediately  divulged  the  overture  to  Gov 
ernor  Claiborne  and  the  legislature,  and  calling  himself 
a  stray  sheep,  anxious  to  get  back  into  the  fold,  offered 
to  devote  himself  and  his  followers  to  the  defence  of  the 
country,  if  their  services  should  be  accepted,  with  an  as 
surance  of  amnesty  for  their  past  conduct.  The  Gov 
ernor  and  legislature  hesitated ;  but  the  communication  of 
Lafitte  becoming  known  at  once  awoke  many  citizens, 
including  Mr.  Livingston,  to  the  peril  impending  over  the 
city ;  and  the  public  meeting,  with  the  appointment  of 
a  committee  of  safety,  on  the  15th  of  September,  was 
the  immediate  consequence.  The  offer  of  Lafitte  met  with 
no  official  response  until  martial  law  was  declared,  and 
Jackson  was,  practically,  dictator.  Then  the  leader  of 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD  LIVINGSTON. 

the  "  hellish  banditti "  presented  his  proposal  to  the  new 
power.  He  was  supported  in  the  application  by  the  fa 
vorable  representations  of  many  official  persons  and  pri 
vate  citizens.  The  Commander-in-Chief  was  not  easily 
convinced.  But  the  calm  and  confident  opinion  of  Liv 
ingston  prevailed  in  favor  of  the  Baratarians.  They 
were  accepted,  formed  two  companies  of  artillerymen, 
fought  bravely  and  faithfully,  and  earned,  what  they  re 
ceived,  a  distinct  acknowledgment  in  the  General  Orders 
of  January  21st  of  their  right  thenceforward  to  the  "  sal 
utation  of  Jackson's  brothers  in  arms." 

Livingston  illustrated  his  own  willingness  to  trust  the 
Lafittes,  by  committing  to  one  of  them  the  execution  of 
an  arrangement  which  he  made  for  the  safe  removal  of 
his  wife  and  child,  in  case  of  the  success  of  the  enemy 
in  getting  to  the  city. 

The  draught  of  the  General  Orders  of  January  21st, 
in  the  handwriting  of  Livingston,  carefully  corrected  by 
erasures  and  interlineations,  according  to  his  unvarying 
wont  in  all  serious  compositions,  still  exists.  The  only 
difference  between  the  draught  and  the  document  as  pro 
mulgated  is,  that  in  the  former  there  is  no  reference  to 
the  conduct  of  any  of  the  General's  staff,  or  to  that  of 
the  juvenile  Captain  Livingston,  —  an  omission  which, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  Commander-in-Chief  supplied. 

The  busy  pen  which  laboriously  distributed  in  this 
paper,  entitled  General  Orders,  the  honors  due  to  the  offi 
cers  and  divisions  of  the  little  army  of  defence,  produced 
also,  on  the  same  day,  an  address  which  was  read,  by 
Jackson's  direction,  at  the  head  of  each  of  the  corps  com 
posing  (he  line,  recapitulating  in  stirring  phrases  the 
chief  events  of  the  campaign.  After  describing  the 
battle  of  the  8th  of  January,  this  paper  continues:  — 

"  And  this  glorious  day  terminated  with  the  loss  to  the 


THE    BATTLE    OF    NEW   ORLEANS. 

enemy  of  their  Commander-in-Chief  and  one  Major-Gen 
eral  killed,  another  Major-General  wounded,  the  most 
experienced  and  bravest  of  their  officers  and  more  than 
three  thousand  men  killed,  wounded,  and  missing  ;  while 
our  ranks,  my  friends,  were  thinned  only  by  the  loss 
of  six  of  our  brave  companions  killed,  and  seven  disabled 
by  wounds.  Wonderful  interposition  of  Heaven  !  Un 
exampled  event  in  the  history  of  war  ! 

"  Let  us  be  grateful  to  the  God  of  battles,  who  has 
directed  the  arrows  of  indignation  against  our  invaders, 
while  he  covered  with  his  protecting  shield  the  brave 
defenders  of  their  country. 

"  After  this  unsuccessful  and  disastrous  attempt,  their 
spirits  were  broken,  their  force  was  destroyed,  and  their 
whole  attention  was  employed  in  providing  the  means 
of  escape.  This  they  have  effected,  —  leaving  their  heavy 
artillery  in  our  power,  and  many  of  their  wounded  to 
our  clemency.  The  consequences  of  this  short,  but  de 
cisive  campaign  are  incalculably  important.  The  pride 
of  our  arrogant  enemy  humbled ;  his  forces  broken ; 
his  leaders  killed ;  his  insolent  hopes  of  our  disunion 
frustrated  ;  his  expectation  of  rioting  in  our  spoils  and 
wasting  our  country  changed  into  ignominious  defeat, 
shameful  flight,  and  a  reluctant  acknowledgment  of  the 
humanity  and  kindness  of  those  whom  he  had  doomed 
to  all  the  horrors  and  humiliation  of  a  conquered 
state. 

"  On  the  other  side,  unanimity  established ;  disaffection 
crushed ;  confidence  restored ;  your  country  saved  from 
conquest,  your  property  from  pillage,  your  wives  and 
daughters  from  insult  and  violation ;  the  Union  pre 
served  from  dismemberment;  and,  perhaps,  a  period  put 
by  this  decisive  stroke  to  a  bloody  and  savage  war. 
These,  my  brave  friends,  are  the  consequences  of  the 


£06  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

efforts  you  have  made,  and  the  success  with  which  they 
have  been  crowned  by  Heaven." 

We  have  seen  that  the  duties  undertaken  and  per 
formed  by  Mr.  Livingston,  during  this  campaign,  were 
of  the  most  multifarious  description.  One  of  the  la 
bors  specifically  intrusted  to  him  was  that  of  looking 
to  the  strict  security  and  proper  comfort  of  the  prison 
ers  captured  and  carried  to  the  city  after  the  battle  of 
the  23d  of  December,  including  the  wounded  in  the 
hospitals. 

On  this  occasion,  his  goodness  of  heart  moved  him  to 
the  irregularity  of  sending  a  badly  wounded  English 
officer,  whom  he  found  insensible,  to  his  own  house, 
where  he  was  carefully  nursed  till  he  recovered.  The 
importance  of  preventing  the  passage  of  the  least  commu 
nication  from  the  prisoners  to  the  British  camp  was  at 
that  moment  so  vital  that  Jackson  could  not  have  tolerated 
such  a  proceeding  in  any  other  man  then  near  him  ;  but 
he  appears  to  have  quietly  sanctioned  the  step,  relying 
implicitly  upon  the  discretion  of  him  whose  unmilitary 
impulse  had  led  him  to  take  it. 

On  the  4-th  of  February,  Mr.  Livingston,  in  conjunc 
tion  with  Captain  White  and  R.  D.  Shepherd,  Esquire, 
was  despatched  by  General  Jackson,  with  a  flag  of  truce, 
to  negotiate  with  Admiral  Cochrane  and  General  Lam 
bert  an  exchange  of  prisoners.  These  officers  were,  at 
the  moment  of  his  arrival  at  the  fleet,  on  the  point  of 
sailing  in  order  to  make  a  second  attack  upon  Fort 
Bowyer,  at  Mobile  Point.  The  concealment  of  their 
design  was  deemed  by  them  so  important  that  they  took 
the  extraordinary  precaution  of  carrying  him  and  'the 
officers  who  accompanied  him  to  Mobile  Point,  where 
he  witnessed,  on  the  12th  of  the  month,  the  surrender 
of  the  fort.  He  had  chafed  much  under  the  detention, 


THE    BATTLE    OF   NEW   ORLEANS. 

and  had  vigorously  protested  against  it  in  writing  sev 
eral  times.  He  was  treated  with  great  personal  con 
sideration  hy  all  the  British  officers,  and  he  bore  them 
much  personal  good-will  in  consequence.  To  Admiral 
Cochrane,  who,  during  this  interval,  expressed  his  desire 
to  possess  a  copy  of  Wilson's  celebrated  work  on  the 
birds  of  America,  he  on  his  return  sent  his  own  copy 
of  that  book.  Cochrane  and  his  fellow-commanders 
had  been  particularly  delicate  in  avoiding  any  expression 
which  might  possibly  wound  the  patriotic  sensibility  of 
their  guest  and  temporary  prisoner. 

On  the  13th  of  February,  the  day  following  the  sur 
render  of  Fort  Bowyer,  the  commandant  of  the  British 
fleet  received  official  information  of  the  fact  that  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States  had  signed  a  treaty  of 
peace.  Hearty  mutual  congratulations  were  exchanged 
between  the  British  officers  and  the  Americans  on  board; 
and  Livingston,  now  bidding  adieu  to  his  compulsory 
entertainers,  on  the  19th  reached  home,  where  his  un 
expectedly  long  absence  had  begun  to  cause  much  anx 
iety,  bearing  the  first  news  of  peace,  —  news  the  official 
confirmation  of  which  was  eagerly  looked  for.  till  it  at 
length  reached  General  Jackson  on  the  13th  of  March. 

It  was  during  the  interval  of  twenty-two  days  between 
Livingston's  return  from  the  British  fleet  and  the  arrival 

c* 

of  official  information  respecting  the  treaty  of  peace,  that 
Jackson,  by  retaining  the  city  under  martial  rule,  ex 
cited  the  discontent  of  a  portion  of  the  people,  from 
which  resulted  the  attempt  by  Judge  Hall,  of  the  Fed 
eral  court  at  New  Orleans,  to  examine  judicially  the  va 
lidity  of  the  proceeding,  —  an  attempt  ending  in  the 
summary  arrest  and  banishment  of  the  Judge  himself. 
The  next  day,  a  copy  of  the  treaty  of  peace,  forwarded 
by  the  Government  from  Washington,  reached  the  Gen- 


£08  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

eral,  who  immediately  resigned  his  extraordinary  powers 
into  the  hands  out  of  which  he  had  taken  them.  On  his 
arraignment  before  the  court,  a  few  days  later,  for  con 
tempt,  he  did  not  appear  by  any  counsel,  but  Captain  Reid, 
of  the  regular  army,  his  aide-de-camp,  offered  to  read  to 
the  court  a  defence  of  the  proceeding  which  had  been 
taken  against  the  Judge.  The  reading  of  the  paper  was 
not  permitted.  I  have  seen  the  draught  of  this  defence, 
— an  elaborate  and  respectful  statement  and  argument, — 
in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Livingston,  much  erased  and 
interlined,  according  to  his  habit.  How  much,  if  any, 
of  the  deference  to  law  and  its  tribunal  which  Jackson 
happily  manifested  on  this  occasion  was  owing  to  the 
wise  influence  of  his  now  principal  adviser,  the  reader,  as 
well  as  I,  can  judge. 

Before  leaving  New  Orleans,  General  Jackson  sat  for 
his  miniature,  painted  on  ivory,  which  he  presented  to  his 
friend,  with  an  expression  of  the  sentiments  which  in 
spired  the  gift,  written  upon  a  slip  of  paper  inserted  in 
the  frame,  as  shown  in  the  engraved  foe-simile  *  accom 
panying  this  volume.  This  portrait,  as  will  be  seen, 
bears  very  small  resemblance  to  the  several  likenesses  — 
all  taken  much  later — by  which  the  inflexible  features 
of  Jackson  are  imprinted  indelibly  upon  the  popular 
mind. 

On  the  10th  of  April,  Livingston  wrote  to  his  sis 
ter  :  — 

"  We  have  just  parted  with  our  great  and  good  Gen 
eral,  and  his  departure  has  left  a  gloom  on  every  coun 
tenance,  and  a  void  in  every  heart,  except  a  few  who 
envied  his  glory,  or  did  not  dare  to  partake  in  his  dan- 

*  This  engraving,  the  work  of  Mr.  is  a  both  spirited  and  minutely  close 
Ritchie,  is  of  the  same  size  as  the  representation.  The  painter  of  the 
miniature,  with  its  case,  of  which  it  picture  was  a  French  artist,  M.  Valle. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS. 

gers.  I  have  been  with  him  from  the  time  of  his  arrival, 
and  am  proud  to  think  that  I  obtained  his  friendship  and 
confidence.  He  presented  me,  on  his  departure,  with  a 
picture,  which  I  shall  leave  as  an  honorable  memorial  to 
my  son." 

Two  letters,  in  my  possession,  dated,  one  in  April,  the 
other  in  June,  1815,  written  by  Captain  John  Reid,  the 
regular  aid  of  Jackson,  who  accompanied  him  for  some 
time  after  his  departure  from  New  Orleans,  and  who 
was  afterwards  brevetted  Major  for  gallantry  in  the 
campaign,  show  that  Mr.  Livingston,  to  whom  they 
were  addressed,  then  entertained  a  plan  of  writing  a 
biographical  notice  of  the  General.*  They  show  also 
that  the  search  for  materials  was  not  fruitful,  which  is 
the  probable  explanation  of  the  fact  that  the  projected 
work  was  not,  so  far  as  I  can  discover,  actually  com 
menced.  The  materials  which  were  collected  for  it  were 
finally  used  by  Reid  himself  in  the  work  which,  after 
his  death,  was  finished  by  General  Eaton. 

*  The  first  of  these  letters  was  as  questions  on  this  subject  as  you  may 

follows  :  —  wish  answered,  and  address  them  to 

»  Washington,  M.  T.  mc.  '?   Tennessee       I   will  promise 

"  -,-,  A™-;I    T«T^  and  forward  you  the  answers,  with- 

22  .r\pril,   I5I5*  ji  r     •     i_  i 

out  delay.     It  is  by  questioning  alone 
"MR  .LIVINGSTON  -Sir :  Enclos-     that  w/shall  be  ^  to         af 

ed  I  send  you,  by  the  direction  of  the     facts  in  this  man>s  hij* 
General,   a  short  sketch  of  his  lite.  „  Respectfully   Yr.  Obt.  St. 

I  wish  it  were  more  circumstantial.  «  T^U^  p  CT™  " 

T»        1_  1_  T>  JUHIN     JVtlL». 

Perhaps  when  we  get  to  Tennessee, 

and  clear  of  these  dinners,  one  more  In  the  second  letter,  written  at 
to  your  liking  may  be  forwarded.  I  The  Hermitage,  Captain  Reid  says, 
have  just  got  up  from  an  overwhelm-  "  I  am  now  at  the  General's,  en- 
ing  dinner  at  this  place,  and  have  yet  deavoring  to  collect  the  most  cor- 
to  write  what  you  will  find  enclosed,  rect  information  respecting  himself 
A  fine  trim  you  will  of  course  sup-  and  his  achievements.  From  him  I 
pose  me  to  be  in  for  this  purpose,  can  gather  but  little,  nothing  being 
The  General  is  just  mounted  and  so  irksome  to  him  as  to  go  into  de- 
gone  on,  having  left  with  me  a  few  tails  about  himself.  As  to  his  pa- 
hints  on  a  scrap  of  paper.  Nothing,  pers,  I  am  diving  into  four  chests'- 
he  says,  is  so  insipid  and  disagreeable  full,  not  very  well  arranged,  and 
to  him,  as  to  sit  down  in  cold  blood  expect  to  bring  up  something  of 
and  write  the  particulars  of  his  own  value.  I  have  made  several  '  grabs,' 
life.  however,  without  catching  anything 
"  1  wish  you  would  put  down  such  but  'muddy  leaves.'" 
27 


£10  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

These  two  men,  —  Andrew  Jackson  and  Edward  Liv 
ingston,  —  so  utterly  unlike  each  other  in  nature,  culture, 
and  habit,  and  yet  so  adapted  for  mutual  respect  and 
for  working  harmoniously  together,  had  now  met  at  two 
different  epochs  of  their  lives,  in  circumstances  calculated 
to  attract  each  to  the  other  most  powerfully.  How  dur 
able  the  attachment  so  formed  between  them  was,  and 
what  an  important  influence  it  exerted  upon  the  careers 
of  both,  is  still  to  be  told. 


CHAPTER  XL 
LEWIS    LIVINGSTON. 

Renewal  of  the  Struggle  for  Pecuniary  Independence  —  Necessity  of 
again  parting  with  Lewis — Return  of  the  latter  to  the  North  —  Letters 
from  Father  to  Son  —  Labors  of  the  former  —  Progress  of  the  latter's 
Education  —  His  Successful  Mission  to  Canada  to  procure  the  Remains  of 
General  Montgomery  —  Scene  at  Montgomery  Place  on  the  passing  by  of 
the  Escort,  bearing  the  Hero's  Ashes  to  New  York  —  Return  of  Lewis  to 
New  Orleans  —  Crisis  in  the  Batture  Litigation  —  An  Adverse  Decision  — 
Fortitude  of  Mr.  Livingston  —  His  Services  in  the  Legislature  of  Louisiana 
—  Uneasiness  on  Account  of  the  State  of  Lewis's  Health  —  Voyage  of  the 
latter  to  Europe  —  His  Letters  —  His  Rapid  Decline  and  Death  —  Depth 
of  his  Father's  Grief. 

MR.  LIVINGSTON  was  now  fifty-one  years  old, 
and  the  burden  which  had  oppressed  his  heart 
for  twelve  years  still  clung  to  him.  The  Batture  en 
terprise,  which  had  assumed  the  form  of  a  lawsuit,  with 
many  complications,  had  so  far  proved  an  ignis  fatuus, 
leading  him  out  of  his  regular  path  only  to  disappoint 
him.  The  opening  of  the  courts  in  May  following  the 
campaign  which  had  for  months  occupied  all  his  mind  and 
strength  found  him  still  toiling  for  subsistence,  and  still 
hoping  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  independence.  He 
had  no  alternative  but  "  to  labor  and  to  wait ; "  and 
bravely  and  quietly,  though  with  secret  sadness,  he  con 
tinued  the  struggle.  On  the  10th  of  April  he  wrote  to 
Mrs.  Montgomery :  — 

"  It  is  possible,  but  not  certain,  that  we  may  pay  you 
a  visit  this  summer.  The  old  difficulty,  that  of  money, 
will  alone  prevent  it.  Our  courts  have  been  closed  since 
the  invasion,  and  will  remain  so  until  next  month.  Should 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

I  be  sufficiently  successful  to  warrant  the  expense,  I  will 
come  on.  I  have  a  good  chance,  I  think,  now,  of  putting 
down  the  opposition  to  my  title  ;  and  the  return  of  peace 
will  restore  the  usual  value  to  the  property.  This,  if 
the  blessed  day  ever  arrive,  will  enable  me  to  do  justice 
and  become  independent.  A  few  months  will  decide  it." 

But  instead  of  a  few  months  between  him  and  "  the 
blessed  day "  which  he  had  already  waited  for  so  long 
and  so  wistfully,  there  remained  yet  an  interval  of  years, 
to  be  passed  in  patient  labor  and  controversy,  disappoint 
ment,  discouragement,  and  affliction.  Certainly  it  is 
one  of  the  saddest  sights  in  the  world,  to  see  a  great 
soul,  to  whose  nature  the  love  of  money,  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  the  phrase,  is  as  foreign  as  it  is  to  childhood, 
battling  in  vain  with  such  a  destiny. 

The  unhappiness  of  his  situation  was  heightened  by 
the  necessity  of  again  parting  with  his  son.  The  edu 
cation  of  the  latter  could  not  be  advantageously  pursued 
at  New  Orleans,  and  that  his  education  should  be  of 
the  most  thorough  and  the  most  practical  kind  was  one 
of  the  father's  principal  cares.  The  manliness  and  sense 
of  the  youth  had  now  inspired  him  with  such  confidence 
in  his  principles  and  judgment  that  he  resolved  to  send 
him  North,  to  depend  on  himself  in  the  selection  of  his 
teachers,  the  distribution  of  his  time,  and  the  management 
of  his  purse,  with  such  oversight  only  as  he  might-  give 
by  correspondence,  until  he  should  be  able,  as  he  still 
constantly  hoped,  to  join  him  at  New  York.  In  the 
spring  following  the  campaign  this  plan  was  put  in  ex 
ecution,  and  several  years  of  separation  followed.  Their 
correspondence  was  unremitted  on  both  sides.  Lewis, 
in  his  first  letter  after  reaching  New  York  in  April, 
wrote  as  follows  :  — 

"  I  have  been  speaking  a  great  while  of  myself.     In 


LEWIS   LIVINGSTON. 

this  case  I  think  it  was  necessary.  Besides,  I  am  writing 
to  my  father,  and  I  think  Lord  Chesterfield  directs  his 
son  always  to  break  through  the  general  rules  of  corre 
spondence  and  make  himself  the  theme  of  all  his  letters, 
when  writing  to  him.  By  the  bye,  do  you  know  that 
I  not  only  see  a  great  similarity  in  the  style  of  your 
letters  and  those  of  Lord  Chesterfield,  but  also  between 
the  two  persons  to  whom  they  are  written,  —  two  young 
men  promising  much,  but  disappointing  all.  I  say  prom 
ising,  because,  if  I  am  to  believe  my  friends,  great  ex 
pectations  are  entertained.  The  utmost  pains  were  taken 
with  Chesterfield's  son,  as  they  are  now  with  me ;  but 
I  fear  that,  like  him,  I  shall  bring  forth  no  fruit.  Dave- 
zac  used  probably  to  be  of  this  opinion,  for  in  his  merry 
moments  he  was  frequently  in  the  habit  of  calling  me 
young  Stanhope.  But,  however  much  I  may  resemble 
him,  I  think  I  can  promise  that  in  some  respects  at  least 
the  parallel  shall  not  hold  good." 

Some  pages  will  be  here  devoted  to  the  preservation 
of  the  following  of  Mr.  Livingston's  letters  to  his  son, 
written  during  this  period :  — 

LETTER    NO.    IV. 

"  N.  O.,  July,  1815. 

"  You  are  by  this  time,  my  dear  son,  if  my  prayers 
are  heard,  enjoying  the  society  of  your  relations  in  the 
land  that  gave  you  birth.  I  wish  to  heaven  my  affairs 
permitted  me  to  join  you ;  the  time,  however,  may  not 
be  far  distant ;  in  the  mean  time  we  must  submit  to  be 
patient. 

"  I  wrote  to  your  aunt  M.  by  last  mail,  and  hope 
she  has  received  my  letter.  She  has  expressed  most 
affectionate  intentions  towards  you,  for  which  I  am  very 
grateful ;  but  I  hope  her  desire  to  increase  your  fortune 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

may  not  induce  her  to  forego  any  comfort  or  gratification 
which  her  age  or  rank  in  society  requires.  I  am  sure 
you  will  join  in  this  wish,  which  I  have  urged  to  her, 
and  which  you  ought  strongly  to  express  yourself. 

"  You  are  now  in  a  country  where  politics  form  the 
principal,  perhaps  I  may  say  with  the  exception  of  private 
business  the  only  topic  of  conversation.  I  wish  to  say 
a  word  to  you  on  this  subject.  No  man  ought,  especially 
in  a  republic,  to  be  indifferent  to  the  interest  of  his  coun 
try  ;  but  there  is  a  wide  difference  between  feeling,  and, 
on  proper  occasions,  expressing  this  interest,  and  that 
noisy,  intolerant  zeal  which  disturbs  society  with  ceaseless 
disputes,  and  can  suffer  no  opinion  contrary  to  our  own 
to  pass  without  contradiction.  Unless  the  society  of 
New  York  be  very  much  changed,  it  is  very  much  in 
fected  with  this  fault.  It  is  a  great  one,  even  when 
committed  by  men  whose  age  and  standing  in  life  entitle 
their  opinions  to  respect,  and  who  naturally  are  irritated 
when  they  are  irreverently  treated  ;  but  it  is  intolerable 
in  a  young  man.  Whatever  examples,  therefore,  you 
may  see  of  this  practice  in  your  young  friends,  I  hope 
and  expect  you  will  not  follow  it.  Yours  is  an  age  for 
forming  opinions,  not  for  making  proselytes.  Those 
which  you  do  form  will  always  be,  I  trust,  consistent 
with  the  principles  of  true  liberty,  without  being  influenced 
by  the  false  wit  of  young  persons  whom  I  have  heard 
ridiculing  democracy  and  republicanism,  not  because  they 
had  a  predilection  for  one  form  of  government  over  an 
other,  or  indeed  understood  the  principles  of  any,  but 
merely  because  they  had  imbibed  a  notion  that  it  was 
not  gentlemanlike  to  be  a  Republican.  For  yourself,  my 
dear  son,  listen  and  read  for  some  years,  and  you  will 
then  be  able  to  speak  with  better  effect,  as  well  as  to  think 
with  more  precision, — and  even  disputes,  though  gener- 


LEWIS   LIVINGSTON.  215 

ally  very  irksome  to  those  who  are  not  engaged  in  them, 
may  become  the  vehicle  of  some  information  to  you. 

"  Let  me  know  whether  your  stock  of  Spanish  and 
of  nautical  knowledge  is  increased  by  your  voyage. 

"  I  do  not  know  whether  you  went  down  the  bayou 
through  which  the  British  penetrated  the  country.  I 
visited  it  about  a  fortnight  ago.  It  is  a  fine  river,  and 
the  road  they  constructed  on  its  bank  is  still  a  good  one. 
I  am  convinced  that  the  attempt  to  annoy  them  in  their 
retreat  could  not  have  succeeded.  They  were  well  for 
tified  at  every  turn. 

"  I  enclose  a  letter  left  for  you  by  Mr.  Brown  to 
Mr.  Monroe,  and  a  plan  given  by  Mr.  Latour.  He 
goes  on  with  his  book,*  and  will  go  to  Philadelphia  as 
soon  as  the  translation  is  complete. 

"  I  embrace  you,  my  dear  son,  very  tenderly. 

"  EDW.  LIVINGSTON." 

LETTER  NO.  V. 

"  N.  O.,  ist  of  September,  1815. 

"  I  have  just  received,  my  dear  son,  your  letter  •  of 
the  29th  July  from  Rhinebeck.  I  am  very  much  pleased 
to  find  that  you  are  passing  your  time  so  agreeably  among 
your  relations,  but  should  have  been  gratified  if  you 
could  have  had  recollection  enough  to  give  me  some 
news  of  them.  From  your  silence,  however,  I  must 
suppose  them  all  well,  and  from  what  you  say  I  may  infer 
that  they  are  all  happy.  You  do  not  even  tell  me  where 
you  have  established  your  head-quarters ;  if  at  Mont 
gomery,  you  would  have  mentioned  your  aunt  — .  I  am 
glad  you  have  General  Jackson's  letter,  and  still  more 
so  that  you  view  it  in  its  true  light  as  a  stimulus  to 

*  Historical   Memoir  of  the  War     Latour.     Translated  by  H.  P.  Nu- 
in   West  Florida  and  Louisiana,  in     gent,  Esq.     Philadelphia,  1816. 
1814-15.    By  Major  A.  Lacarriere 


216  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

further  exertions.  You  are  now  at  the  very  important, 
the  very  critical  period  of  life,  when  the  reputation  you 
are  to  enjoy  in  future  is  formed,  and  when,  unfortunately, 
it  is  most  difficult  to  impress  a  helief  of  that  truth  on 
the  mind.  On  your  employment  of  the  next  two  years, 
perhaps  on  that  of  the  present  year,  the  present  month,  or 
week,  (for  not  even  the  smallest  period  of  time  is  now 
unimportant,)  may  depend  your  consideration  and  char 
acter  in  future  life.  I  do  not  mean  that  you  are  to  spend 
your  whole  time  in  study  ;  but  what  I  seriously  require 
is  that  you  make  study  of  some  kind,  the  acquirement 
of  some  useful  talent  or  agreeable  accomplishment,  your 
principal  object  for  the  next  three  or  four  years.  In  the 
mean  time  enjoy  all  the  true  pleasures  of  life  ;  see  good 
company ;  profit  by  it ;  become  cited  for  your  ease  and 
gentility  of  manner,  for  true  politeness,  (which  is  noth 
ing  but  the  practice  of  goodness  in  trifles,)  as  you  may 
be  for  learning  and  talents.  I  will  take  care  to  ease 
you  from  any  solicitude  on  account  of  finances.  I  have 
no  interest  but  yours,  and  I  know  that  at  your  time  of 
life  men  are  not  very  wise  calculators.  I  hold  this  lan 
guage  to  you,  because  I  know  that  whatever  I  can  afford 
to  allow  you  will  not  be  spent  in  vice  or  extravagance. 

"  I  will  write  to  you  soon  on  the  subject  of  your  re 
quest  to  study  at  Philadelphia.  There  are  great  advan 
tages  attending  it,  and  I  believe,  on  the  whole,  it  will  be 
best.  But  wherever  you  are,  I  bespeak  an  hour  every 
day  for  the  Latin  and  Greek  classics,  one  for  Spanish, 
another  for  French  exercises,  and  a  fourth  for  some 
branch  of  the  mathematics.  The  other  twenty  you  may 
dispose  of  in  such  way  as  you  think  most  profitable  and 
most  amusing.  This,  I  am  sure,  is  not  unreasonable; 
and  wherever  you  are,  even  on  a  party  of  pleasure,  four 
hours  each  day  may  be  taken  in  the  morning  or  evening, 


LEWIS  LIVINGSTON. 

and  leave  you  all  the  time  for  amusement  that  can  be 
required.  I  mention  particularly  the  Spanish,  because 
I  have  it  very  much  at  heart  that  you  should  be  perfectly 
master  of  it.  Our  connections  with  the  Southern  con 
tinent  are  every  day  becoming  more  important,  and  in 
whatever  line  you  may  be,  a  perfect  knowledge  of  that 
language  will  give  you  a  most  decided  advantage.  We 
are  all  well,  and  love  you  affectionately. 

"  EDW.  LIVINGSTON." 

LETTER  NO.  VI. 

"  N.  O. 

"  MY  DEAR  SON  :  I  have  just  received  your  letter  of 
the  £8th  October.  If  I  disapproved  your  conduct  in 
any  particular,  it  must  have  been  very  slightly,  for  I 
have  already  forgotten  it,  and  cannot  imagine  to  what 
part  of  my  correspondence  you  allude,  which  you  say 
made  that  impression  upon  you.  I  sent  you  by  Mr. 
Spencer  three  bottles  of  mineral  water,  from  a  spring 
found  on  my  lands  on  the  Pass  Christian  on  the  margin 
of  the  sea ;  and  from  the  imperfect  analysis  I  have  been 
able  to  make  here,  it  is  found  to  contain  sulphur  and  iron 
in  unusual  quantities.  One  of  them  you  may  try  your 
own  chemical  talents  upon  ;  give  the  others  to  Dr.  Mitchill, 
or  any  other  celebrated  chemist  who  will  take  the  trouble 
of  making  the  analysis,  and  who  will  write  me  such  an 
account  of  the  nature  of  the  water  as  I  may  publish,  if 
I  choose,  with  his  name. 

"  In  pursuing  your  classical  studies,  I  would  recom 
mend  an  attentive  perusal  of  Livy,  and  even  a  transla 
tion  of  some  of  those  passages  whose  beauty  strikes  you 
most.  Take,  for  example,  the  first  twelve  sections  of  the 
9th  book,  and  when  you  have  made  a  translation  of  it 
that  pleases  you,  send  it  to  me.  I  recommend  Livy  in 

28 


218 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD  LIVINGSTON. 


preference  to  Tacitus,  because  I  think  it  almost  impossi 
ble  to  render  into  any  modern  language  the  sententious 
brevity  of  the  latter,  while  I  think  the  flowery  style  of 
Livy  may  be  imitated  in  English  with  some  success. 

"  I  interrupted  my  letter  here  that  I  might  try  by 
experiment  whether  the  opinion  I  hazard  is  just,  and  I 
enclose,  as  a  specimen,*  the  speech  of  Pontius  from  the 

were  conquered  ?  You  gave  hos 
tages  to  Porsenna,  and  you  meanly 
stole  them  from  his  power ;  you 
ransomed  your  city  from  the  Gauls, 
and  assassinated  them  while  they 
were  counting  the  price.  You  prom 
ised  us  peace  to  procure  the  libera 
tion  of  your  legions,  and  you  break 
that  peace  as  soon  as  they  are  restor 
ed.  Never  have  you  wanted  a  sem 
blance  of  right  to  cover  your  want 
of  faith.  Does  Rome  disdain  to  pre 
serve  her  legions  by  an  ignominious 
peace  ?  Let  her  annul  the  treaty, 
but  restore  the  captive  legions  to 
their  conquerors  !  This  would  have 
been  a  duty  in  which  the  imperial 
ceremonies  might  have  been  worthi 
ly  employed  ;  this  would  have  ac 
corded  with  their  pretensions  to  good 
faith  and  regard  to  treaties.  As  it 
is,  you  have  got  all  you  expected  by 
the  treaty  ;  your  citizens  are  restor 
ed  safe  to  their  country,  while  the 
peace  which  was  promised  me  as  an 
equivalent  is  not  preserved.  An 
swer  me,  Cornelius  !  Answer  me, 
Ambassador  of  Rome  !  Is  this  your 
public  faith  ?  Is  this  your  law  of 
nations  ?  As  to  these  men  you  pre 
tend  to  surrender,  I  neither  receive 
them,  nor  consider  them  as  offered 
to  me.  They  are  free  ;  let  them  re 
turn  to  your  city,  loaded  with  the 
weight  of  the  stipulations  they  have 
made,  and  with  the  anger  of  the 
Gods  whose  name  they  have  profaned. 
Go,  Romans  !  Wage  war  upon  us 
because  Sp.  Posthumus  has  just 
smote  the  Roman  herald  with  his 
knee  !  Go  !  persuade  the  Gods  that 
Posthumus  is  a  Samnite,  not  a  citi 
zen  of  Rome,  and  that,  because  a 
Roman  herald  has  been  assaulted  by 


*  Translation  from  Livy  enclosed 
in  the  above  letter  :  — 

"  To  this  Pontius  replied  :  '  I  nei 
ther  accept  the  surrender,  nor  would 
the  Samnites  confirm  it,  if  I  did. 
But  you,  Posthumus,  if  you  believe 
in  the  existence  of  the  Gods,  either 
abide  by  your  stipulation,  or  let  ev 
erything  be  as  it  was  before  you  made 
it.  Restore  to  the  Samnites  what 
they  had  in  their  power,  or  give  them 
the  peace  for  which  they  surrendered 
it.  But  why  address  myself  to  you  ? 
you,  who,  with  a  mockery  of  good 
faith,  came  to  surrender  yourself  to 
your  conquerors.  It  is  to  the  Roman 
people  I  speak,  and  I  call  on  them, 
if  they  refuse  the  treaty  of  the  Cau- 
dine  Forks,  to  replace  their  legions 
in  the  toils  where  they  were  previous 
ly  entangled.  There  shall  be  no  de 
ception  ;  the  treaty  shall  be  annull 
ed  ;  they  shall  receive  the  arms  which, 
pursuant  to  its  stipulations,  they  sur 
rendered  ;  they  shall  occupy  the 
same  camp,  and  everything  shall  be 
restored  to  them  which,  on  the  day 
before  the  parley,  they  possessed. 
After  this,  they  may  with  propriety 
resort  to  energetic  counsels,  and  trust 
to  the  fortune  of  war.  After  this, 
if  they  choose,  let  them  indignantly 
reject  all  offers  of  surrender  and 
peace.  On  our  part,  we  may  then 
carry  on  operations  with  the  same 
chance  of  success,  and  in  the  same 
situation  in  which  we  stood  before 
they  offered  to  capitulate.  Then  the 
Romans  cannot  complain  of  the 
terms  imposed  on  their  consuls,  nor 
we  of  the  ill  faith  with  which  they 
were  violated.  But  have  you  ever 
waited  for  a  pretence  for  breaking 
the  engagements  you  made  when  you 


LEWIS    LIVINGSTON. 

XI.  section  of  the  book  I  referred  to  ;  it  is  nearly  a 
literal  translation,  and  yet  if  I  mistake  not  it  might  pass 
for  an  original  composition  in  English.  Independently  of 
the  heautiful  language  and  elegant  descriptive  powers 
of  the  author,  this  passage  of  history  is  a  very  remark 
able  one  ;  but  the  law  of  nations  must  have  been  a  very 
extraordinary  one  which  would  permit  the  historian  to 
doubt  whether,  by  the  offer  to  surrender  their  General, 
the  Romans  were  absolved  from  the  obligations  of  the 
treaty :  '  Et  illi  quidem  forsitan  et  publica  sua  certi 
liberati  fide,  etc. 

"  In  my  last  I  requested  the  new  distribution  of  your 
time  ;  do  not  forget  to  send  it. 

"  Yours,  most   affectionately, 

"  EDW.  LIVINGSTON." 

LETTER    NO.    VII. 

"  N.  O.,  October  ist,  1815. 

"  MY  DEAR  SON  :  Some  vexatious  business  and  a  jour 
ney  I  have  been  obliged  to  make  have  interrupted  my 
correspondence  with  you  for  some  weeks.  In  the  inter 
mediate  time  I  have  received  yours  written  before  and 
after  your  journey  to  the  Springs,  and  previous  to  your 
journey  to  Niagara.  I  very  much  approve  of  your 
movements,  particularly  the  last. 

On  the  subject  of  your  studies  and  your  residence 
it  is  time  to  come  to  some  conclusion  ;  and  in  the  reso 
lution  I  have  taken  I  give  a  proof  of  my  confidence  in 
your  prudence  that  would  make  many  wise  people  doubt 
my  own.  I  will  state  to  you  what  I  wish  and  request 
you  to  learn,  and  I  leave  to  yourself  the  selection  of  the 

a  Samnite,  the  war  you  are  about  to  tempt  to  deceive  us  by  tricks  which 

wage  is  just.      Do  you  not  blush  at  would  disgrace  a  boy  ?       Go,  lictor  ! 

this  open  mockery  of  religion  ?    Re-  unbind  these  Romans !  let  them  de- 

spectable   by  office  and   by  age,  are  part  unmolested.'  " 
you   not  ashamed    of  this   poor   at- 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

place  in  which  it  will  be  most  practicable  to  obtain  teach 
ers  and  other  facilities  to  carry  my  plan  into  execution. 
"  First,  you  know  my  desire  that  you  should  not  only 
be  a  good  but  an  excellent  scholar  in  the  Greek  and  Latin 
languages;  one  hour  or  more  must  be  employed  regu 
larly  every  day,  without  exception  or  excuse  from  pleas 
ure  or  other  avocations,  in  attaining  this,  for  the  next 
two  years.  If  you  continue  thus  long  from  duty,  you 
will  persevere  afterwards  from  inclination.  Whatever 
other  studies  you  pursue,  this  must  accompany  them. 
You  are  sufficiently  advanced,  perhaps,  in  this  branch, 
to  proceed  without  much  aid ;  but  I  should  prefer  your 
passing  your  allotted  hour  in  company  with  the  best  pro 
fessor  of  the  languages  you  can  procure ;  it  will  make 
you  punctual  in  spite  of  yourself,  and  your  studies  will 
be  facilitated  by  the  intercourse  you  must  have  with  him. 
During  that  hour,  be  a  perfect  pedant.  Have  no  other 
ideas  but  classical  ones,  and  make  it  a  practice  to  write 
a  short  version  of  them  every  day.  A  few  lines  only, 
if  you  put  no  interruption  to  your  daily  practice,  will 
in  a  short  time  give  you  an  astonishing  facility.  I  once 
began  this,  but  was  foolish  enough  to  discontinue  it,  and 
have  never  ceased  regretting  my  want  of  perseverance. 
For  this  winter,  your  mathematical  studies  must  be  con 
tinued  with  the  greatest  diligence.  This  is  the  great 
groundwork  of  all  science,  and  of  most  of  the  Arts. 
Without  a  very  considerable  knowledge  of  them  no 
eminence  is  to  be  attained  ;  it  is  the  handmaid  to  the 
more  showy  acquirements,  and  abridges  wonderfully  the 
labor  of  acquiring  them,  if  indeed  they  are  to  be  attained 
without  it.  I  do  not  speak  of  arithmetic;  that  is  in 
dispensable  to  every  man,  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury  to  the  grocer  at  the  corner ;  and  not  to  have  a  per 
fect  and  easy  use  of  figures  is  a  reproach  to  the  mean- 


LEWIS    LIVINGSTON. 

est  capacity  ;  connected  with  this,  you  will  do  well  to 
get  some  idea  of  the  practical  mode  of  keeping  mer 
chants'  accounts  ;  you  will  find  it  of  great  use  in  life, 
particularly  if  you  should  choose  the  profession  of  the 
law.  Your  Uncle  C.,  or  any  other  merchant  with 
whom  you  are  intimate,  will  give  you  an  idea  of  it  in  a 
few  days.  What  I  particularly  mean  is  algebra,  trig 
onometry,  surveying,  navigation,  perspective,  and  the 
other  practical  sciences  to  which  it  is  applied.  I  do  not 
want  you  to  discover  the  quadrature  of  the  circle,  hut  I 
wish  you  to  be  a  good  geometrician,  and  able  to  follow 
or  make  any  of  the  calculations  that  are  usually  found 
iu  books  of  science.  In  physics,  you  will  find  this  of 
the  utmost  consequence,  and,  indeed,  most  of  the  modern 
books  on  this  subject  are  nearly  unintelligible  to  one  who 
is  not  an  algebraist  and  geometrician.  For  the  next 
three  months,  therefore,  I  think  you  should  divide  your 
time  between  the  learned  languages,  mathematics,  and 
Spanish.  This  will  occupy  you  four  or  five  hours ;  two 
hours  more  for  history,  accompanied  by  geography  and 
the  globes,  will  bring  you  to  your  dinner-hour,  after  which 
I  have  nothing  further  to  say  to  you  till  ten,  except  to 
request  that  you  pass  your  time  in  the  best  society  in 
the  place  where  you  are,  —  the  best  informed  men,  the 
politest  and  most  fashionable  women,  —  but  no  carous 
ing,  no  drinking-parties,  no  late  suppers.  You  do  not 
love  wine,  you  justly  abhor  play,  and  you  have  no  taste 
for  bad  company  ;  do  not,  therefore,  let  the  fear  of  ridi 
cule  among  a  few  idlers  deprive  you  of  the  use  of  mo 
ments  so  precious  to  your  future  prospects,  to  your  hap 
piness  and  that  of  your  friends,  as  those  which  will  make 
up  the  next  two  years  of  your  life. 

"  With   all   my  confidence  in  you,  my  dear   son,   you 
cannot   conceive   my  anxiety.      I  am  doing  a  novel  and 


LIFE    °F    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

a  hazardous  thing.  I  am  trusting  a  young  man,  not 
seventeen,  to  his  own  guidance,  in  the  midst  of  the 
temptations  of  a  populous  city.  I  give  him  no  superior, 
no  monitor  but  his  own  sense  of  right.  If  you  should 
be  seduced  by  dissipation,  if  you  should  disappoint  my 
expectations,  what  an  eternal  source  of  regret  and  self- 
reproach  !  No !  I  shall  never  forgive  myself,  if  you 
are  not  everything  I  expect,  everything  I  wish,  that  is, 
a  good,  a  moral,  an  honorable,  an  accomplished  and 
polite  man.  But  though  I  cannot  help  feeling  anxiety, 
I  have  no  real  fears,  and  I  proceed  with  my  plan.  Af 
ter  two  or  three  months  you  may  let  your  mathematics 
give  way  three  times  a  week  to  physics  by  attending  a 
course  of  lectures  on  them  at  the  University.  Astron 
omy  and  chemistry  may  follow  in  succession,  and  in 
the  same  manner.  But  do  not  confine  yourself  to  the 
attendance  on  the  lectures  ;  get  acquainted  with  and  cul 
tivate  an  intimacy  with  the  several  Professors  ;  talk  to 
them  on  the  subject  of  their  respective  branches  ;  ask  ex 
planations,  and  get  all  the  knowledge  out  of  them  you  can. 
You  will  find  each  of  them  fond  of  his  science,  and  he 
will  be  pleased  with  those  who  desire  to  excel  in  it. 

"  During  this  time  you  will  pro  forma  enter  your  name 
in  the  office  of  a  lawyer,  to  save  a  year  or  two  in  case 
you  should  choose  the  profession  of  the  law,  —  if  at 
New  York,  Mr.  Hoffman  or  Mr.  Golden  will  do  me 
this  favor ;  if  at  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Du  Ponceau.  As 
to  the  choice  of  place,  speak  to  Chancellor  Kent,  who 
is  my  particular  friend  and  a  man  of  superior  judgment 
and  learning,  and  after  getting  all  the  information  in 
your  power  as  to  the  comparative  merits  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  for  your  plan,  take  a  room  in  a  pri 
vate  family,  and  send  me  an  estimate  of  what  you  will 
want  as  well  for  your  board,  lodging,  and  tuition  as  other 


LEWIS    LIVINGSTON. 

expenses,  which  I  am  willing  should  be  such  as  are  ne 
cessary  for  a  young  man  to  appear  in  good  society.  By 
this  I  do  not  mean  a  leader  of  the  fashion,  a  beau,  or  a 
pillar  of  public  assemblies.  The  attendance  on  those 
diversions  which  encroach  on  the  night  you  will  find 
totally  incompatible  with  such  a  steady  pursuit  of  your 
studies  as  I  trust  you  will  maintain.  Early  rising  is 
indispensable,  and  you  will  never  attain  eminence  in 
any  of  the  pursuits  allotted  for  you,  if  you  suffer  the 
evening's  amusements  to  encroach  upon  the  morning's 
studies. 

"  I  give  you  no  particular  allotment  of  your  time ;  that 
must  depend  in  a  great  measure  on  circumstances,  but 
it  will  be  extremely  important  for  you  to  make  a  distri 
bution,  and  to  abide  by  it.  If  there  is  a  good  riding- 
master,  take  a  few  lessons,  and  keep  up  your  fencing. 
Painting  I  know  you  will  of  course  cultivate.  When 
you  are  fixed,  let  me  know  very  particularly  how  you 
divide  your  time.  I  shall  send  funds  to  your  uncle  C. 
to  provide  for  your  expenses,  to  be  paid  quarterly  in  ad 
vance.  At  present  T  presume  $2000  per  annum  will 
be  sufficient;  but  I  am  not  well  informed  as  to  the  rates 
of  things  in  the  United  States.  Therefore  make  your 
own  estimate,  and  if  $500  more  be  necessary,  it  shall 
be  provided. 

"  I  have  spoken  of  your  entering  your  name  in  a  law 
yer's  office,  in  case  you  should  choose  that  profession,  for 
it  is  absolutely  necessary  you  should  have  one.  Should 
you  have  a  fortune,  it  will  enable  you  to  preserve  and  do 
credit  to  one ;  should  you  have  none,  it  will  be  neces 
sary  for  your  support. 

"  Farewell,  my  dear  son  ;  we  all  embrace  you  ten 
derly,  and  love  you  dearly. 

"  EDW.  LIVINGSTON." 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 


LETTER    NO.    VIII. 

"  N.  O.,  29th  December,  1815. 

"  MY  DEAR  SON:  I  have  received  yours  of  the  1st 
of  December,  and  am  sorry  that  you  cannot  find  accom 
modations  in  a  private  house.  The  great  number  of 
persons  with  whom  you  must  necessarily  associate  in  a 
lodging-house  will,  I  fear,  interrupt  the  constant  atten 
tion  which  is  now  necessary  for  your  studies.  I  say 
now,  because  the  events  of  the  last  year  have  not  only 
interrupted  them,  but  have  brought  you  forward  be 
yond  your  years,  and  led  the  world  to  expect  more  from 
you  than  would  be  required  from  a  young  man  of  the 
same  age  who  had  spent  his  time  in  retirement.  This 
ought,  you  will  say,  to  be  the  reverse  ;  but  the  world  is 
not  always  just.  You  do  not  tell  me  in  any  of  your 
letters  whether  you  have  found  proper  instructors  in 
the  different  studies  I  have  recommended,  nor  do  you 
give  me  your  reasons  for  preferring  New  York  to  Phil 
adelphia  as  the  seat  of  your  studies.  All  this  I  wish 
much  to  know.  There  are  some  other  points  in  my 
former  letters  on  which  I  asked  for  information,  that 
you  do  not  notice  in  any  of  yours.  This  must  arise 
from  your  not  having  my  letters  before  you  when  you 
write  to  me.  Unless  you  do  this,  you  may  write  to 
your  correspondents,  but  you  will  never  answer  their 
letters,  and  this  is  losing  the  best  advantage  of  a  cor 
respondence. 

"  If  only  three  years'  study  in  an  office  are  necessary 
to  procure  admission  at  the  bar  in  New  York,  you  need 
not  enter  your  name  until  you  are  eighteen,  as  you  can 
not  be  admitted  before  twenty-one.  Inform  yourself  on 
this  point,  and  follow  the  advice  of  Mr.  Golden,  which 
you  will  request  him  in  my  name  to  give  you.  Let  me 
know  in  your  next  what  studies  you  pursue,  who  are 


LEWIS    LIVINGSTON. 

your  instructors,  and  exactly  how  you  divide  your  time 
between  them.  What  society  do  you  most  frequent  ? 
Which  are  the  houses  you  are  most  intimate  in  ?  Have 
you  been  introduced  to  the  French  emigrants  of  distinc 
tion,  of  whom  there  are  several,  it  is  said,  at  New  York  ] 
If  any  of  them  are  coming  this  way,  offer  them  letters 
to  me,  saying  that  you  are  sure  I  will  be  ready  to  ren 
der  them  any  service  in  my  power,  and  that  I  shall  feel 
great  pleasure  in  their  acquaintance,  etc.,  etc. 

"  Farewell,  my  dear  son ;  we  shall  soon  begin  a 
new  year.  You  may  make  it  a  happy,  by  making  it  a 
profitable  one,  and  I  have  no  doubt  you  will.  Though 
every  succeeding  revolution  now  drags  me  from  the  me 
ridian  of  life,  yet  it  raises  you  to  it,  and  this  is  among 
the  greatest  of  my  consolations.  May  you  shine,  when 
you  arrive  there,  with  that  true  splendor,  which  virtue, 
knowledge,  and  talent  united,  only  can  give  ! 

"  EDW.  LIVINGSTON.'* 

LETTER    NO.    IX. 

"  N.  0.,  January  i3th,  1816. 

"  MY  DEAR  SON  :  There  will,  I  believe,  be  no  neces 
sity  for  your  entering  your  name  in  a  lawyer's  office 
until  you  see  me,  which  I  hope  will  be  in  the  beginning 
of  the  summer.  Thank  Mr.  P.  in  your  own  name  and 
mine  for  his  offer,  but  do  not  accept.  I  would  advise 
you  to  tell  Governor  Tompkins  that  you  have  consulted 
me  on  the  subject  of  the  offer  he  was  kind  enough  to 
make  to  you  of  a  place  in  his  staff;  that  I  have  desired' 
you  to  say,  I  am  very  grateful  for  this  mark  of  his  atten 
tion,  but  that  I  am  solicitous  your  studies  for  one  year 
at  least  should  receive  no  interruption,  and  therefore 
request  that,  if  the  place  requires  any  duties  which  would 
interfere  with  them,  he  would  defer  the  kindness  he 
29 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

intends  you  for  about  that  period,  when  you  will  de 
vote  a  portion  of  your  time  to  his  service  with  pleasure. 
Should  he  offer  to  give  you  the  place  without  requiring 
any  service  that  will  interfere  with  your  course  of  study, 
such,  for  example,  as  restraining  it  to  attendance  on  gen 
eral  reviews  in  the  city,  I  think  there  would  be  an  ad 
vantage  in  accepting  it. 

"  I  am  glad  Mr.  Vanderlyn  is  returned,  and  should 
be  very  well  pleased  to  hear  that  you  had  prevailed  on 
him  to  give  you  some  lessons.  If  you  were  sure  of 
obtaining  his  instructions  or  those  of  any  equally  cele 
brated  master  in  about  a  year,  I  should  prefer  your 
postponing  this  study  until  you  were  perfect  in  another 
which  I  think  more  useful,  —  drawing,  perspective,  and 
ground  plans  of  buildings,  fortifications,  and  machines, 
all  of  which  you  will  find  extremely  important  through 
life,  and  the  last  particularly  in  your  study  of  mechanics. 
Field  plans  ought  also  to  accompany  your  lessons  of 
trigonometry  and  surveying ;  after  acquiring  the  theory 
from  your  mathematical  teacher,  you  might,  in  your 
visits  to  the  country,  put  it  in  practice  with  Mr.  Cox. 
As  a  lawyer  this  knowledge  will  be  found  very  useful 
to  you.  Your  painting  apparatus  and  other  effects  shall 
be  sent  by  the  brig  Archimedes  (I  hail  the  omen  while 
writing  of  mathematical  studies  to  a  young  engineer  !). 
Before  I  am  quite  done  with  painting  and  drawing  let 
me  give  you  a  serious  caution  on  the  subject  of  carica 
tures.  It  is  a  most  dangerous  art  even  when  discreetly 
indulged  in,  and  a  detestable  one  when  directed  by  ill- 
nature  or  revenge,  or  even  without  these,  by  careless 
gayety.  The  very  reputation  of  this  talent  is  dangerous, 
should  it  even  never  be  exercised.  I  know  not  a  single 
advantage  attending  it.  Never  practise  it,  therefore,  even 
among  intimate  friends.  The  diffidence  you  express 


LEWIS   LIVINGSTON. 

of  your  success  in  the  different  studies  in  which  you 
are  engaged  is  natural  at  the  first  view  of  their  variety 
and  difficulty.  The  perseverance  I  know  you  possess, 
will  soon  vanquish  the  first  obstacles,  and  you  will  then 
pursue  your  course  with  the  animation  inspired  by  the 
certainty  of  reaching  the  goal.  Be  firmly  persuaded  of 
this  truth,  that,  next  to  the  consciousness  of  rectitude 
in  religion  and  morals,  the  highest  satisfaction  the  hu 
man  mind  is  capable  of  feeling  is  that  derived  from  a 
sense  of  progress  in  knowledge.  May  a  happy  expe 
rience  teach  you  the  force  of  this  maxim ;  then  all  the 
other  adventitious  pleasures  of  life  will  acquire  a  per 
manence  which  the  want  of  this  consciousness  would 
quickly  destroy. 

"  EDW.  LIVINGSTON." 

LETTER  NO.  X. 

"  N.  O.,  1 6th  March,  1816. 

"  MY  DEAR  SON  :  You  have  some  reason  to  complain 
of  the  irregularity  of  my  correspondence ;  I  am  pleased, 
however,  to  find  it  has  no  effect  upon  yours.  Do  not 
be  afraid  of  your  letters  being  troublesome  to  me  ;  on 
the  contrary,  I  examine  the  series  carefully  to  see  that 
you  do  not  fail  in  your  engagement  of  writing  at  least 
once  a  week.  Your  last  is  of  the  16th  February,  and 
you  ought  then  to  have  received  some  letters  I  wrote 
in  January.  They  will,  however,  before  this  have  given 
you  the  information  you  desire  as  to  my  views  respect 
ing  your  studies  and  your  profession.  As  to  the  first, 
you  have  exactly  fulfilled  them.  You  know  the  impor 
tance  I  have  always  attached  to  the  mathematics,  and 
I  am  delighted  to  find  that  it  is  a  favorite  study  with 
you.  Your  mother  only  yesterday  predicted  you  would 
be  extremely  eminent  in  that  branch,  and  she  was  of 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

course  much  pleased  to  find  by  your  letter  to-day  that 
her  prediction  will  probably  be  verified.  I  have  urged 
the  necessity  of  a  proficiency  in  the  exact  sciences  more 
strongly  upon  you,  because  I  have  throughout  life  felt 
the  deficiency  of  my  own  education  in  that  particular. 
At  college  I  had  no  one  in  whom  I  had  sufficient  con 
fidence  to  convince  me  of  the  utility  of  these  studies, 
and  I  was  then  only  sixteen.  I  passed  them  over  with 
the  carelessness  natural  to  my  age,  learning  only  so 
much  as  was  necessary  to  the  obtaining  my  degrees,  and 
before  I  acquired  experience  enough  to  show  me  my 
error,  professional  business,  politics,  and  misfortunes  had 
brought  me  to  an  age  at  which  it  would  have  been 
ridiculous  to  attempt  it.  You  have  a  right,  my  dear 
son,  to  the  benefit  of  my  experience,  and  I  feel  no  mor 
tification  whatever  in  any  confession  that  may  be  of  use 
to  you.  Do  not  believe,  however,  because  you  are  pleased 
with  the  precision  of  mathematical  truth,  that  you  are 
therefore  excluded  from  eminence  in  those  studies  which 
give  a  greater  scope  to  the  imagination,  and  especially 
in  eloquence.  On  the  contrary,  true  eloquence  can  never 
be  acquired  without  a  foundation  of  that  true  logic  of 
which  mathematics  is  the  basis.  Imagination,  unrestrained 
by  the  reasoning  powers,  is  but  another  name  for  fancy, 
and  fancy  alone  may  sometimes  amuse,  but  will  never 
convince.  It  may  excite  admiration,  but  it  is  never  per 
manently  useful  unless  it  be  made  subservient  to  argu 
ment,  and  argument  is  the  demonstration  of  mathemat 
ical  truth.  Connect,  therefore,  your  studies  of  eloquence 
and  the  belles  lettres  with  those  sciences  which  can  alone 
render  them  useful  as  well  as  ornamental.  Do  not  be 
discouraged  if  for  many  years  you  should  find  a  difficulty 
in  expressing  your  ideas  with  the  elegance  you  wish. 
If  you  have  a  sense  of  imperfection  on  this  point,  it  is 


LEWIS   LIVINGSTON. 


229 


only  a  proof  that  your  taste  excels  your  skill,  and  as  the 
latter  is  to  be  attained  by  practice  and  a  study  of  the 
best  models,  the  circumstance  that  seems  to  discourage 
you  at  present  ought  to  animate  you  the  most ;  you  have 
the  idea  of  excellence  impressed  on  your  mind,  and  while 
that  is  not  corrupted  be  assured  with  diligence  it  can  be 
realized.  Were  you  now  satisfied  with  your  composi 
tions,  there  would  indeed  be  very  little  hope  of  your 
attaining  the  eminence  to  which  you  are  destined  if  you 
persevere  and  improve  your  taste,  and  direct  your  studies 
by  its  dictates.  My  former  letters  will  have  anticipated 
the  answer  to  those  now  before  me  relative  to  your  fu 
ture  profession.  The  study  of  the  law,  whatever  may 
be  your  destination  in  life,  will  always  be  extremely  useful. 
I  intend,  therefore,  that  you  should  make  yourself  master 
of  its  practice  as  well  as  theory.  But  for  one  year,  at 
least,  I  do  not  wish  your  attention  diverted  from  the  course 
of  academical  studies  in  which  you  are  engaged.  Dur 
ing  that  time  you  had  better  remain  where  you  are.  I 
shall  most  probably  be  with  you  in  June,  when  we  shall 
be  in  time  to  take  such  measures  as  will  be  necessary 
to  insure  your  admission  at  the  bar  as  soon  as  your 
age  will  allow. 

"  I  am  ever,  my  dear  son, 

"  Your  truly  affectionate  father, 

"  EDW.  LIVINGSTON." 

LETTER    NO.    XI. 

"  April  29th,  1816. 

"  MY  DEAR  SON  :  I  doubt  very  much  the  accuracy  of 
your  observation  that  the  best  writers  are  those  who  un 
derstand  no  living  language  but  their  own  ;  on  the  con 
trary,  I  would  cite  many  examples  to  contradict  it. 
Rendering  the  idiomatic  phrases  of  a  foreign  language 


'    LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

into  our  own  is  an  exercise  that  must  give  a  great  com 
mand  of  words  to  the  student  who  is  not  content  with 
a  literal  translation,  which  no  man  of  common  sense 
will  be ;  its  difficulty  gives  a  new  spur  to  invention,  and 
a  single  page  of  Tacitus  or  Rousseau  has  made  me  use 
more  words,  and  shape  more  phrases,  than  if  I  had  to 
compose  twenty  on  the  same  subject.  I  do  not,  how 
ever,  advise  the  study  of  any  language  (except  Latin, 
Greek,  and  French,)  as  matter  of  such  primary  impor 
tance  as  to  exclude  that  of  the  sciences,  but  I  think  they 
need  not  interfere.  A  very  short  lesson  taken  punctu 
ally  every  day  will,  at  your  age,  make  you  master  of 
any  language,  and  they  are  all  ornamental  and  useful, 
though  they  may  not  be  necessary.  If  you  practise  the 
law  either  in  New  York  or  Pennsylvania,  you  will  find 
some  knowledge  of  the  German  to  be  important.  It 
is,  however,  a  very  difficult  language ;  and  if  you  find 
that  it  trenches  on  the  hours  you  set  apart  for  any  of 
the  sciences,  abandon  it.  I  do  not  know  whether  to 
compliment  you  on  your  discoveries  in  physics  or  not; 
the  pursuit  of  the  perpetual  motion,  though  always  un 
successful,  may  yet,  like  that  of  the  philosopher's  stone, 
produce  some  improvement  which  would  not  otherwise 
have  been  made.  I  had,  myself,  thought  both  of  your 
siphon  and  capillary  tubes.  The  first  I  was  very  san 
guine  of,  under  the  notion  that  the  force  of  the  water 
issuing  from  the  siphon  was  in  proportion  to  the  height 
of  the  instrument,  and  not  to  the  difference  between  the 
surface  of  the  water  and  the  lower  orifice  of  the  siphon, 
as  it  really  is.  The  capillary  tubes,  I  found,  would  raise 
water;  but  I  could  discover  no  principle  on  which  it  would 
flow  through  them,  unless  they  were  bent  into  the  form 
of  a  siphon,  by  which  nothing  was  gained.  I  should 
like  to  see  your  plan.  Look  for  improvements  with  as 


LEWIS    LIVINGSTON. 

much  diligence  as  you  please,  but  do  not  announce  any 
discovery  merely  on  its  theoretical  probability.  The 
world  loves  to  laugh  at  the  miscalculations  of  the  learned, 
and  when  they  get  the  habit  they  will  continue  it,  even 
without  reason.  As  you  quote  my  example,  do  not  dis 
regard  a  precept  which  has  been  proved  to  me  by  ex 
perience. 

"  Farewell,  my  dear  son. 

"  EDW.  LIVINGSTON." 

LETTER  NO.  XII. 

"  N.  O.,  z8th  October. 

"  It  is  very  difficult  for  me,  my  dear  son,  to  direct 
your  studies  at  this  distance ;  my  general  plan  has  been 
frequently  communicated.  Mathematics  in  almost  all 
its  branches,  you  know  I  consider  as  the  groundwork 
of  all  useful  science,  I  might  almost  say  of  all  useful 
knowledge.  This  I  have  often  repeated;  and  you  seem 
to  be  not  only  convinced  of  its  truth,  but  to  have  acted 
from  that  conviction,  and  to  have  applied  to  that  study 
with  the  perseverance  necessary  to  become  attached  to 
it.  A  correct  knowledge  of  the  learned  languages,  you 
are  also  aware  I  consider  necessary  in  the  education  of 
a  gentleman.  I  do  not  mean  to  carry  my  idea  of  this 
necessity  so  far  as  to  embrace  that  critical  knowledge 
which  can  only  be  acquired  by  a  sacrifice  of  other  more 
useful  studies ;  but  I  think  such  a  proficiency  ought  to 
be  made  by  the  student  as  will  enable  the  man  in  his 
future  life  to  taste  the  beauties  of  the  Greek  and  Roman 
authors,  —  that  he  should  read  them  with  ease,  and  that 
he  should  persevere  in  his  studies  until  he  reads  them  with 
pleasure.  After  these  come  the  modern  languages,  of 
which  you  already  possess  the  principal  and  most  diffi 
cult.  If  your  leisure  will  permit,  I  should  advise  you 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

to  add  the  Italian  to  your  stock,  but  to  pay  your  prin 
cipal  attention  to  the  ready  and  elegant  use  of  the  French 
and  Spanish,  both  in  speaking  and  writing.  A  few 
minutes  each  day,  regularly  and  attentively  employed 
in  composition,  and  using  every  opportunity  of  convers 
ing  with  those  who  understand  the  language  well,  will 
attain  this  desirable  end.  On  this  subject  let  me  guard 
you  against  that  false  shame  which  prevents  learners 
from  profiting  by  the  conversation  of  strangers  in  their 
own  language.  Without  seeming  to  seek  for  an  oppor 
tunity  to  display  his  knowledge,  the  man  of  sense  will 
find  an  occasion  of  turning  the  conversation  into  the  chan 
nel  from  which  he  wishes  to  derive  instruction.  Read 
or  recite  as  often  as  you  can  some  portion  of  Racine's 
and  Voltaire's  tragedies,  before  some  one  capable  of  cor 
recting  your  faults,  and  sufficiently  intimate  with  you  to 
do  it  freely.  For  French  prose,  I  believe  no  author  is 
so  good  a  model  as  Rousseau.  Observe  that  I  confine 
my  eulogium  to  his  style,  for  I  neither  admire  the  man, 
nor  many  of  his  works ;  but  there  is  a  harmony  in  the 
structure  of  his  sentences  which  I  can  perceive,  though 
I  by  no  means  possess  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  lan 
guage.  As  for  the  Spanish  I  must  again  insist  on  the 
great  utility  of  a  very  familiar  use  of  it.  Our  southern 
neighbors  are  rising  in  the  political  world,  and  the  local 
situation  of  the  United  States  will  oblige  us  to  an  inti 
mate  connection  with  them.  You  have  said  nothing 
lately  of  the  German  ;  if  you  find  it  interfere  greatly  with 
your  other  studies,  you  may  discontinue  it,  for  in  truth 
it  is  not  so  essential  as  the  others.  After  Latin  and 
Spanish,  Italian  can  without  much  difficulty  be  acquired 
in  a  sufficient  degree  to  read  their  great  poets,  —  it  will 
not  probably  be  very  necessary  for  you  to  speak  it.  The 
studies  I  have  mentioned  may  be  considered  as  the  run- 


LEWIS    LIVINGSTON. 

mug  base  of  your  education,  to  accompany  all  the  others 
to  the  end  of  the  piece.  The  principles  of  astronomy, 
natural  philosophy,  chemistry,  and  natural  history,  may 
be  acquired  in  a  sufficient  degree  for  future  use  dur 
ing  the  course  of  the  next  year,  in  the  order  that 
your  convenience  or  inclination  may  direct.  I  have  said 
nothing  of  history,  and  its  two  attendants,  chronology 
and  geography,  because  I  hope  they  are  the  occupation  of 
all  those  odd  ends  of  time  which  are  not  employed  in  those 
studies  that  require  an  instructor;  nor  of  what  is  called 
moral  philosophy,  because  I  think  the  best  system  of 
morals  is  the  dictates  of  an  honest  heart ;  nor  of  logic,  be 
cause  all  that  is  necessary  to  be  known  of  it  is  very  little, 
and  that  little  will  best  be  acquired  in  the  pursuit  of  your 
legal  studies,  which  I  do  not  wish  you  to  think  of  till 
the  end  of  the  year.  I  hope  because  you  are  upwards 
of  six  feet  high  you  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to 
dismiss  your  dancing-master ;  on  the  contrary,  great 
grace  of  movement  is  necessary  to  make  common-sized 
people  forgive  a  tall  man  the  advantage  nature  has  given 
him  in  stature,  I  have  before  mentioned  the  necessity 
of  fencing  well ;  and  if  you  have  a  good  master,  in  the 
course  of  the  summer  take  lessons  in  equitation.  Grace 
in  sitting  a  horse,  and  skill  in  managing  him,  are  great 
advantages. 

"  Your  proficiency  in  drawing,  and  great  taste  for  it, 
renders  anything  but  a  caution  not  to  let  it  engross  too 
much  of  your  time  unnecessary.  Do  not  forget,  how 
ever,  what  I  have  frequently  repeated,  of  the  drawing  of 
plans  and  machines,  which  is,  in  my  opinion,  the  most 
useful  branch  of  the  art.  The  order  of  these  several 
studies,  the  time  that  you  appropriate  to  each,  the  choice 
of  your  masters,  etc.,  etc.,  must  be  left  to  your  own  dis 
cretion,  on  which  I  rely  with  confidence.  I  might  assist 

30 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

you  greatly  were  I  with  you,  and  the  sacrifice  of  your 
society  costs  me  very  dear ;  but  I  will  not,  to  gratify 
myself,  give  up  any  important  advantage  to  you,  and 
indeed  the  consciousness  of  doing  so  would  destroy  all 
the  happiness  I  should  derive  from  having  you  with  me. 
"  Farewell,  my  dear  son. 

"Eow.  LIVINGSTON." 

LETTER    NO.    XIII. 

"  January  13,  1817. 

"  MY  DEAR  SON  :  I  have  just  now  received  your  letter 
of  the  16th  December,  and  am  very  glad  to  find  that  you 
are  again  seriously  at  work.  Remember,  however,  that 
I  neither  expect  nor  desire  that  you  should  so  devote 
yourself  to  study  as  to  exclude  altogether  society  and 
the  amusements  proper  for  your  age.  On  the  contrary, 
my  plan  for  your  education  embraces  a  due  proportion 
of  all,  and  I  have  such  confidence  (rarely  placed  in  one 
of  your  age)  as  to  believe  you  capable  of  mixing  them 
for  yourself.  You  seem  to  speak  discouragingly  of  the 
effects  of  your  studies,  and  I  imagine  you  allude  to  the 
learned  languages  ;  it  is  impossible  you  can  yet  perceive 
the  operation  which  this  species  of  knowledge  has  on  your 
style,  or  the  importance  of  the  store  of  ideas  which  this 
study  will  afford  you.  I  am  myself  but  an  indifferent 
scholar.  I  spent  my  time  rather  idly  at  school,  and  still 
more  so  at  college,  which  I  left  at  a  very  early  age ;  but 
on  mixing  a  little  with  the  world  I  was  fortunate  enough 
to  discover  the  defects  of  my  education.  I  then  began 
to  remedy  them,  but  was  much  counteracted  in  my  en 
deavors  by  my  former  habits  of  idleness,  and  by  my  new 
pursuits  of  pleasure.  Notwithstanding  these  disadvan 
tages,  I  have  had  some  success  in  forming  a  style  which 
has  on  particular  occasions  been  commended;  and  I  owe 


LEWIS   LIVINGSTON.  ^35 

it,  I  think,  principally  to  a  close  attention  to  sonv£o£  the 
classics,  which  I  studied  until  I  became  enamored  ortrteir 
beauties.  The  advantages  which  I  enjoy  so  imperfectly 
I  wish  you  to  possess  completely  ;  so  that  when  at  my 
age  you  are  writing  to  your  son,  you  may  not  only  im 
press  upon  him  by  principle,  but  exemplify  in  your  style 
and  manner,  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  a  perfect 
knowledge  of  the  classic  models  of  good  writing.  Modern 
authors  have  their  day  of  fame ;  they  find  admirers  and 
critics ;  but  that  which  all  the  world  has  for  two  thousand 
years  admired,  and  still  admires,  must  be  good,  and  there 
is  no  danger  in  forming  one's  self  on  such  models.  By 
forming  I  do  not  mean  imitating  or  attempting  to  imi 
tate  in  original  compositions;  but  what  I  do  mean  is 
transferring  their  spirit  into  your  writings  by  cultivating 
a  taste  for  their  beauties,  and,  when  that  taste  is  formed, 
indulging  it  by  frequent  perusals  and  translations.  When 
you  meet  with  a  beautiful  passage,  such  as  some  of  the 
exquisite  pictures  presented  by  Livy,  ask  why  they  please 
you.  Examine  whether  the  story  wrould  be  more  strik 
ing  if  told  in  any  other  manner,  —  if  the  parts  could  be 
differently  arranged  to  greater  advantage  1  If  any  figure 
or  other  ornament  would  render  it  more  striking  ?  Nine 
times  out  of  ten,  in  the  author  I  speak  of,  you  will  find 
that  he  pleases  because  he  copies  nature,  and  that  all  ad 
ditional  ornament  would  spoil  the  effect  which  is  derived 
in  his  style  from  an  inimitable  simplicity.  I  am  glad  to 
find  you  pass  but  an  hour  in  the  office.  This  will  not  in 
terfere  with  your  course  of  studies,  but  may  be  made  to 
cooperate  with  it.  I  would  recommend  you,  therefore,  to 
divide  that  hour  between  Quintilian  and  the  Institutes  of 
Justinian.  To  prepare  yourself  for  the  latter,  read  first 
with  attention  the  chapter  in  Gibbon  which  contains 
the  history  of  the  civil  law,  and  a  little  book  called 


236  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

6  Horse  Juridicse,'  which  was  published  at  Philadelphia 
by  Mr.  Du  Ponceau,  with  some  good  notes.  If  I  go  on 
at  this  rate  you  will  not  complain  of  the  brevity  of  my 
letters.  By  the  way,  that  complaint  may  be  anything 
else  for  aught  I  know.  It  is  written  in  a  style  of  obscu 
rity  that  would  do  honor  to  Oliver  Cromwell.  I  enclose 
it  that  you  may  send  it  back  with  explanatory  notes. 
The  first  object  of  all  writing,  and  particularly  of  letter- 
writing,  is  to  be  understood.  This  fault  has  not  occurred 
in  any  of  your  letters  before,  and  therefore  it  strikes  me 
more  forcibly.  Farewell,  my  dear  son ;  I  will  not  close 
my  letter  without  expressing  to  you  the  pleasure  I  felt 
yesterday  at  hearing  you  spoken  of  in  terms  of  the  high 
est  commendation  by  General  Ripley  at  a  public  dinner. 

"  EDW.  LIVINGSTON." 

LETTER  NO.  XIV. 

"  February,   1817. 

"  MY  DEAR  SON  :  The  people  who  tell  you  that  I  could 
pretend  to  any  political  advancement  in  New  York,  if 
they  are  not  actuated  by  a  complaisant  insincerity,  cannot, 
I  think,  be  well  informed.  Popularity  is  a  prize  too 
eagerly  contended  for  by  candidates  who  make  it  the 
pursuit  of  their  lives  to  leave  any  hope  of  acquiring  it  to 
one  who  never  understood,  and  who  disdained  to  prac 
tise  its  mysteries.  Of  all  the  follies  of  my  youth,  and 
[  have  had  too  many,  the  one  of  which  I  am  most  per 
fectly  cured  is  the  desire  of  political  preferment.  Do 
not  take  this  as  a  general  reflection  applicable  to  all ; 
the  pursuit  of  honest  fame,  the  desire  to  serve  your  coun 
try,  the  noble  ambition  of  devoting  even  your  life  when 
her  safety  requires  it,  all  these  it  would  be  a  kind  of  sac 
rilege  to  characterize  as  follies.  Mine  consisted  in  the  en 
deavor  to  push  myself  forward  into  places  that  would  have 


LEWIS    LIVINGSTON. 

been,  certainly  as  well,  perhaps  much  better,  filled  by 
many  others,  to  the  neglect  of  my  private  affairs,  and  by 
that  means  involving  myself.  Take  this,  therefore,  as  a 
rule  which  I  cannot  too  often  or  too  seriously  impress 
upon  you.  Never  accept  any  public  employment  that 
will  directly  or  indirectly  trench  upon  your  independence. 
If  my  endeavors  to  secure  your  fortune  should  be  unsuc 
cessful,  first  procure,  by  your  own  efforts,  such  a  provis 
ion  as  shall  raise  you  above  the  necessity  of  incurring 
any  pecuniary  obligation.  You  may  then,  and  not  be 
fore,  pursue  your  public  duties  without  any  danger  of 
being  forced  by  necessity  to  abandon  them.  I  do  not 
mean  by  this  that  you  should  endeavor  to  amass  great 
wealth.  Such  a  pursuit  would  be  an  unworthy  one;  but 
when  wealth  cannot  be  attained  commensurate  with  our 
habits  and  desires,  these  last  may  be  restrained  to  the 
limits  of  our  circumstances,  and  the  same  end  be  attained 
with  much  less  trouble.  Adieu,  my  dear  son.  May 
Heaven  bless  you  with  as  much  fortune  as  you  can  wor 
thily  enjoy,  and  all  the  advancement  that  will  tend  to  the 
welfare  of  your  country. 

;t  EDW.  LIVINGSTON." 

LETTER    NO.    XV. 

"  29th  September,  1817. 

"  MY  DEAR  SON  :  This  I  presume  will  find  you  at 
New  York,  resuming  your  usual  studies.  I  wish  you 
particularly  to  go  through  the  course  of  chemistry,  min 
eralogy,  and  geology,  and  above  all  things  to  continue 
your  translations  from  the  Latin  and  Greek  classics,  par 
ticularly  the  historians.  You  say  you  cannot  find  a  copy 
of  Livy,  —  but  surely  in  such  a  city  as  New  York,  you 
may  borrow  it,  if  you  cannot  buy  it.  Purchase  a  copy 
of  Quintilian,  which  I  wish  you  to  study  accurately.  His 


238  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

style  is  elegant,  and  his  precepts  generally  correct.  He 
requires  more  of  his  orators  than  can  generally  be  attained, 
and,  as  well  as  Cicero  in  his  treatise  '  De  Oratore,'  con 
siders  a  perfect  orator  as  something  more  than  human. 
But  though  none  have  acquired  that  point  of  perfection, 
a  close  attention  to  the  study  may  enable  some  to  approach 
it,  and  failure  in  such  attempts  is  in  itself  attended  with 
some  degree  of  glory,  and  always  with  great  advantage. 
The  mind  that  is  great  enough  to  appreciate  the  char 
acter  of  a  great  speaker,  the  spirit  that  has  energy  suf 
ficient  to  attempt  its  acquisition,  will  always  attain  a  high 
superiority,  although  other  circumstances  should  prevent 
their  reaching  the  goal.  Should  you  enter  your  name 
in  a  lawyer's  office  on  the  same  footing  you  were  in 
Mr.  P.'s,  I  advise  you  to  read  with  attention  and  make 
extracts  from  the  Institutes  of  Justinian.  Read  as  much 
as  possible  from  the  original,  and  do  not  recur  to  the 
translation  except  for  words  and  phrases  you  can  find 
nowhere  else.  Calvin's  'Lexicon  Juridicum,'  which  you 
will  find  in  the  City  Library,  will  be  a  good  assistant, 
and  you  had  better  have  recourse  to  it  than  either  to 
Cooper's  or  Harris's  translation. 

"  Much  as  I  wish  to  see  you  I  cannot  think  of  let 
ting  you  lose  this  important  winter,  which  you  would 
do  by  passing  it  here. 

"Eow.  LIVINGSTON." 

LETTER    NO.    XVI. 

"Plantation  Ste.  Sophie,  7   December,  1817. 

"About  the  1st  of  October,  having  exposed  myself 
very  much  to  the  heat  and  rain,  I  was  taken  with  a  vio 
lent  fever,  which  reduced  me  very  much.  I  thought  it 
completely  broken ;  but  it  has  returned  at  irregular  inter 
vals  ever  since,  and  has,  I  think,  very  much  impaired 


LEWIS   LIVINGSTON. 

my  constitution.  I  arrived  here  yesterday,  and  already 
feel  so  much  benefit  from  the  change  of  air  and  exercise, 
that,  though  I  quitted  my  bed  only  forty-eight  hours  ago, 
I  am  strong  enough  to  go  about  the  whole  day  with 
out  any  great  fatigue.  I  was  more  sorry  than  surprised 
at  what  you  tell  me  of  the  violence  with  which  some 
persons  enter  into  political  animosities,  fostering  them 
until  they  make  them  personal,  and  giving  themselves 
much  more  pain  than  they  inflict.  As  to  the  particular 
subject  of  the  conversation  you  relate,  whether  it  be 
owing  to  a  disposition  I  have  always  encouraged  of  for 
getting  injuries  as  soon  as  I  possibly  could,  or  not,  I 
cannot  tell,  but  I  remember  none  which  the  gentleman 
alluded  to  has  done  which  ought  to  make  me,  particu 
larly  at  this  distance  of  time  and  place,  participate  in 
the  hostile  feelings  which  others  perhaps  justly  entertain 
towards  him.  I  have  long  lost  all  feeling  of  party  spirit; 
very  good  men  think  very  differently  on  the  same  sub 
ject,  and  no  political  measures,  none  but  those  tending 
manifestly  to  the  ruin  of  the  country,  will  ever  excite  any 
warm  sensations,  or  provoke  any  warmth  of  language  on 
my  part.  I  would  oppose  all  that  I  thought  wrong,  were 
I  in  any  of  the  departments  of  government ;  and  I  think 
it  is  but  fair  in  me  to  believe  that  those  who  are  there 
will  act  at  least  as  wisely  and  as  honestly  as  I  should. 
To  those,  therefore,  I  leave  it ;  without,  however,  debar 
ring  myself  the  privilege  of  calmly,  but  independently, 
expressing  my  opinion  .on  every  subject  of  public  interest 
whenever  occasion  may  require  it.  Mais  pour  en  revenir 
a  nos  moutons.  I  spoke  to  you  favorably  of  the  Gov 
ernor's  measures,  because  I  think  them,  as  far  as  they 
have  come  to  my  knowledge,  (which  I  confess  is  very 
imperfectly,)  well  calculated  to  promote  the  honor  and 
permanent  interest  of  the  country,  and  to  be  based  on  en- 


24-0  LIFE  OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

lightened  and  liberal  views.  His  motives  may  be  found 
ed  on  personal  interest  or  ambition.  Of  this  I  am  no 
judge.  I  judge  only  from  the  effect,  and  I  think  until 
Heaven  shall  endow  us  with  the  faculty  of  reading  the 
heart,  it  is  the  only  fair  mode  of  judging.  But  I  do  not 
desire  to  be  his  partisan,  or  the  partisan  of  any  man. 
If  my  earnest  desire  of  returning  to  my  country  should 
ever  be  realized,  I  wish  to  avail  myself  of  the  happy  ex 
emption  my  absence  has  given  me  from  all  party  attach 
ment  or  animosities.  I  can  then  only  enjoy  that  undis 
turbed  obscurity  in  which  I  wish  to  pass  the  remainder 
of  my  life. 

"  I  had  several  things  to  add  which  I  must  defer,  as 
I  find  I  have  overrated  my  strength.  God  bless  you, 
my  dear  son. 

"  Your  affectionate  father, 

"Eow.  LIVINGSTON." 

LETTER    NO,    XVII. 

"  September,   1818. 

"  MY  DEAR  SON  :  I  have  received  your  account  of 
your  expedition,*  with  which  I  am  very  well  pleased. 
I  could  have  wished,  however,  you  had  been  more  particu 
lar  as  to  the  manner  in  which  you  carried  on  your  ne 
gotiation.  The  Governor's  indisposition  prevented  your 
seeing  him,  but  you  must  have  written,  or  did  you  trust 
altogether  to  the  influence  of  Mr.  Smith  1 

"  If  the  great  cause  between  the  two  fur  companies 
was  tried  while  you  were  there,  you  must  have  heard  the 
best  speakers  at  the  bar.  What  is  their  force  ?  Is  the 
question  between  them  merely  one  of  the  boundary  of 
their  grants,  or  do  they  draw  their  privilege  in  question  1 

*  His  mission  to  Canada  to  pro-     which  an  account  will  be   given  fur- 
cure  the  removal  of  General  Mont-     ther  on  in  the  present  chapter, 
gomery's  remains  to  New  York,  of 


LEWIS    LIVINGSTON. 

Is  the  foreign  commerce  carried  on  from  Quebec  or  Mon 
treal  chiefly  I  When  I  was  there,  about  seventeen  years 
ago,  only  vessels  engaged  in  the  carrying  of  furs  came 
to  Montreal.  Did  you  see  many  of  the  British  officers] 

"  I  have  received  a  letter  from  your  Aunt  M.  She 
says  that  F.  L.  is  about  to  prepare  some  biographi 
cal  notice  of  General  Montgomery.  Is  he  qualified  for 
the  task  1  It  is  no  easy  one.  The  biography  of  the 
present  day  is  wretched  trash,  —  trying  to  raise  common 
events  by  an  inflated  style,  and  sinking  those  that  are 
truly  great  by  a  mixture  of  affectation  and  vulgarity 
of  expression,  —  swelling  the  matter  for  a  few  pages 
into  a  large  book,  and  filling  the  intervals  between  the 
thoughts  with  words.  It  would  grieve  me  to  see  the 
memory  of  one  for  whom  I  had  a  regard  oppressed  with 
such  a  monument.  I  know  of  no  one  but  General  Arm 
strong  who  could  perform  this  task,  both  for  General 
Montgomery  and  the  Chancellor. 
"  Farewell,  my  dear  son, 

"  I  am,  with  the  truest  affection,  yours, 

.  LIVINGSTON." 


LETTER    NO.    XVIII. 

The  date  and  beginning  of  this  letter  are  wanting.  It 
was  probably  written  before  some  of  the  preceding. 

"  While  on  this  subject,  I  wish  you  to  get  a  large,  and 
the  latest  map  of  the  United  States  ;  hang  it  up  in  your 
room,  and,  beginning  either  at  the  North  or  South,  study 
every  State  successively,  until  you  make  yourself  master 
of  its  boundaries,  rivers,  towns,  harbours,  etc.;  and  when 
you  meet  with  well-informed  men  from  any  State  con 
verse  with  them  on  the  subject  of  its  geography,  popu 
lation,  and  history,  until  the  principal  points  are  well  and 

31 


LIFE   OF  EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

accurately  fixed  on  your  mind.  The  little  odd  minutes 
which  form  so  large  a  portion  of  human  life,  and  that 
are  constantly  lost  in  silly  observations  on  the  weather, 
etc.,  may  thus  be  turned  to  profit  and  amusement  too. 
I  would  not,  however,  have  you  an  importunate  ques 
tioner  ;  nothing  is  more  irksome.  But  the  conversation 
may  without  any  direct  attempt  generally  be  turned  to 
the  point  you  wish,  and  your  man  be  made  to  give  all  the 
information  he  has,  without  being  ordered  to  stand  and 
deliver  it.  For  instance,  I  will  suppose  that  Mrs.  Kin- 
sey,  among  her  South  Carolina  guests,  should  receive  an 
old  officer  who  had  served  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and 
had  been  present  at  the  Battle  of  Camden :  you  will  im 
mediately  turn  to  General  Lee's  Memoirs  or  Ramsay's 
History  for  the  general  account  they  give  of  that  battle, 
and  of  the  events  which  preceded  or  followed  it.  You 
will  observe  whether  your  authors  agree  or  disagree  on 
the  leading  features  of  the  action,  and  you  may  after 
wards  without  impropriety  tell  your  veteran  that  you 
have  read  their  accounts,  but  will  be  greatly  obliged  to 
him  if  he  will  tell  you  on  which  you  ought  to  confide 
on  such  and  such  points.  This,  seasoned  with  a  com 
plimentary  allusion  to  the  share  he  had  in  the  affair,  or 
in  the  general  course  of  the  war,  will  induce  him  to  com 
municate  with  pleasure  all  he  knows,  and  perhaps  some 
thing  more ;  for  this  you  will  have  to  make  allowance, 
proportioned  to  the  character  of  the  narrator, — for  this 
kind  of  information  is  not  always  the  most  correct.  Con 
versation  rather  gives  us  the  means  of  acquiring  the  ma 
terials  of  knowledge  than  knowledge  itself.  It  pins  facts 
in  the  memory  by  discussing  them,  and  some  little  anec 
dote  or  secondary  circumstance,  not  thought  of  sufficient 
importance  to  find  a  place  in  a  written  relation,  imprints 
the  principal  event  indelibly  on  the  memory.  A  propos 


LEWIS    LIVINGSTON. 

of  Revolutionary  officers,  they  are  a  race  of  men  that  are 
now  almost  extinct.  By  the  time  you  enter  life  very 
few  of  them  will  survive ;  they  have  generally  received, 
and  deserve  the  highest  respect;  this  veneration  will  in 
crease  as  their  numbers  diminish,  and  as  antiquity  casts 
its  glow  over  their  faults.  It  will  be  interesting  before 
you  die  to  have  known  and  conversed  with  such  men. 
I  would  therefore  advise  you  to  cultivate  their  acquaint 
ance  on  every  proper  occasion ;  and  when  you  receive 
any  historical  event  from  any  one  who  was  actor  or  pres 
ent  at  the  scene  he  relates,  commit  it  in  a  few  words  to 
writing  when  you  return  home,  with  the  name  of  the 
person  from  whom  you  had  the  information  and  the 
date.  Such  memoranda  you  will  find  hereafter  of  great 
use. 

"  I  am  suffering  under  the  effects  of  an  influenza,  which 
has  stupefied  and  tormented  me  for  a  fortnight.  This  is 
a  much  better  excuse  for  the  Blue  Devils  than  any  which 
a  young  gentleman  in  your  situation  can  possibly  have. 
Yet  they  have  not  attacked  me.  Be  assured  that  the 
Blue  are  not  more  pertinacious  than  the  Black  Devil, 
and  the  Scriptures  say  that  if  you  resist  him,  he  will  fly 
from  you.  Apply  the  same  remedy  to  the  visitations  of 
your  azure  tormentors,  and  be  assured  you  will  defeat 
them. 

"Adieu,  my  dear  son;  receive  the  blessing  of  your  af 
fectionate  father, 

"  EDW.  LIVINGSTON." 

» 

During  the  period  covering  the  dates  of  these  letters 
Mr.  Livingston  placidly  toiled  in  his  profession,  besides 
managing,  or  trying  to  manage,  —  though  with  a  glar 
ing  want  of  economy  and  of  skill,  —  to  improve,  in  order 
to  render  marketable,  two  sugar  plantations,  of  which  he 


244  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

had  become  possessed,  and  all  the  while  pushing  hope 
fully  towards  a  determination  his  lawsuit,  now  a  mon 
ster  of  many  heads.  As  it  gradually  grew  evident  to 
his  mind  that  years  must  elapse  before  these  resources 
would  enable  him  to  get  clear  of  his  burden,  he  thought 
of  other  plans,  and,  in  1816,  undertook  to  furnish  the 
government  with  a  great  quantity  of  live-oak  timber,  in 
satisfaction  of  his  debt.  Why  he  was  unsuccessful  in 
this,  I  have  not  been  able  to  discover  ;  but  the  enterprise 
met  with  some  miscarriage,  and  an  undertaking  which, 
most  likely,  some  shrewd  and  ignorant  man  might  have 
managed  successfully,  proved  beyond  the  capacity  of  one 
who  had  shown  his  abilities  equal  to  so  many  situations 
and  such  varied  emergencies.  The  old  and  heavy  debt, 
by  its  accumulations  of  interest,  went  on  increasing  from 
year  to  year. 

Lewis  entirely  justified  the  fond  and  unusual  confi 
dence  which  his  father  reposed  in  him.  For  three  years, 
from  the  age  of  seventeen  to  that  of  twenty,  he  pur 
sued  his  studies  by  himself  at  New  York  and  Philadel 
phia,  in  the  very  spirit  of  the  injunctions  conveyed  by  the 
letters  from  New  Orleans.  The  result  in  the  way  of 
mental  and  social  accomplishments  was  all  that  the  pa 
ternal  standard  exacted.  He  was  of  a  tall  frame,  similar 
to  that  of  his  father,  of  swift  perceptions  and  versatile 
tastes,  of  a  sedate  or  slightly  melancholy  bearing,  and  of 
the  strictest  modesty  and  refinement.  In  the  summer 
of  1818  he  was  commissioned,  by  the  Governor  of  New 
York,  De  Witt  Clinton,  in  pursuance  of  an  act  of  the 
legislature  of  the  previous  session,  to  proceed  to  Quebec, 
to  superintend  the  removal  of  General  Montgomery's  re 
mains  to  the  city  of  New  York, — a  commission  which 
he  executed  with  perfect  address  and  judgment.  From 
a  minute  report  of  his  journey  and  proceedings  on  this 


LEWIS    LIVINGSTON. 

occasion,  written  to  his  father,  I  extract  the  following 
humorous  account  of  an  embarrassment  which  his  mod 
esty  suffered :  — 

"  So  much  for  the  General ;  now  a  word  for  myself. 
The  inhabitants  of  Whitehall,  who  with  the  prophetic 
spirit  of  the  witches  in  'Macbeth'  had,  as  I  have  already 
informed  you,  hailed  me  Colonel,  gave  me,  as  the  event 
turned  out,  the  title  I  had  a  claim  to.  The  Adjutant- 
General,  on  his  arrival,  showed  me  the  General  Order 
which  had  been  issued,  in  which  the  name  of  Colonel 
Livingston  stood  prominent,  and  explained  the  mystery 
by  presenting  me  a  Colonel's  commission,  which  the  Gov 
ernor  was  pleased  to  call  a  reward  for  my  good  conduct. 
If  the  other  grades  are  to  be  obtained  at  so  easy  a  rate 
as  this,  I  do  not  despair  of  one  day  becoming  a  Major- 
General  ;  and,  to  say  the  truth,  the  honor  that  has  been 
conferred  on  me  I  would  willingly  have  dispensed  with. 
I  have  felt  so  ashamed  in  opening  letters  directed  to 
the  colonel,  that  I  think  I  could  go  to  Quebec  to  un-col- 
onel  myself." 

In  the  same  letter,  he  compares  himself  upon  this  jour 
ney  to  the  ass  loaded  with  relics,  of  La  Fontaine,  —  the 
animal  that  found  it  difficult  to  avoid  the  mistake  of 
appropriating  the  homage  which  the  passers-by  only  in 
tended  for  the  load  which  he  carried. 

On  the  29th  of  June,  Governor  Clinton,  who  conducted 
the  matter  with  a  very  delicate  regard  to  the  feelings  of 
Mrs.  Montgomery,  wrote  to  inform  her  that  the  remains 
of  the  General  had  reached  Whitehall,  and  that  they  had 
been  received  with  appropriate  honors  by  the  fleet  sta 
tioned  at  that  place.  He  added  that  he  had  directed  a 
military  escort  to  accompany  them  to  Albany.  The  cor 
tege  arrived  there  on  Saturday,  the  4th  of  July.  After 
lying  in  state  in  the  capitol  over  Sunday,  the  remains 


246  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

were  on  Monday  taken  to  New  York,  attended  by  the 
military  escort,  on  board  the  steamboat  Richmond,  and 
on  Wednesday  were  deposited,  with  due  ceremonials,  in 
their  final  resting-place  at  St.  Paul's  Church,  under  the 
cenotaph  which  had  been  erected  by  order  of  Congress 
many  years  before. 

The  Governor  had  advised  Mrs.  Montgomery  at  about 
wrhat  hour  the  boat,  bearing  the  remains  of  her  husband, 
would  pass  her  house,  Montgomery  Place.  By  her  own 
request  she  stood  alone  upon  the  portico  at  the  appointed 
time.  She  had  lived  with  the  General  but  two  years. 
It  was  then  almost  forty-three  years  since  she  had  parted 
with  him  at  Saratoga.  For  a  third  of  a  century  out  of 
this  latter  period,  the  waters  of  the  Hudson,  like  all  other 
waters,  had  been  ignorant  of  steam-vessels.  The  change 
which  in  the  mean  time  had  come  over  her  person  was 
not  greater  than  that  which  the  face  of  her  country,  its 
government,  and  all  the  objects  with  which  she  was  famil 
iar,  had  undergone.  Yet  she  had  continued  as  faithful 
to  the  memory  of  her  "  soldier,"  as  she  constantly  called 
him,  as  if  she  still  looked  for  him  to  come  back  alive  and 
unaltered.  The  steamer  halted  before  her ;  the  "  Dead 
March  "  was  played  by  the  band,  a  salute  was  fired,  and 
the  ashes  of  the  departed  hero  passed  on.  The  attend 
ants  of  the  venerable  widow  now  sought  her.  She  had 
succumbed  to  her  emotions,  and  fallen  to  the  floor  in  a 
swoon. 

At  the  end  of  the  same  year,  after  a  separation  of  three 
years  and  a  half,  Lewis  rejoined  his  father  at  New  Or 
leans.  The  happiness  of  their  meeting  was  only  quali 
fied  by  an  intense  anxiety  caused  by  the  situation  of  the 
affairs  of  the  latter.  It  was  a  crisis  in  the  litigation  of 
his  title  to  the  Batture.  A  judgment  had  been  rendered 
in  his  favor  some  time  before,  and  he  had  confidently 


LEWIS   LIVINGSTON. 

looked  forward  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  this 
success,  —  freedom  from  debt,  return  from  exile,  tran 
quil  retirement ;  and  he  had  not  at  first  felt  any  appre 
hensions  respecting  an  appeal  which  his  adversaries  had 
taken.  But  that  appeal  was  now  soon  to  he  decided, 
and  some  intimations  which  he  had  lately  received  alarmed 
him  much.  The  letters  written  by  Lewis,  after  his  ar 
rival,  to  his  aunt,  Mrs.  Montgomery,  portray  vividly  the 
incidents  of  the  suspense  which  overhung  the  household. 
Under  date  of  the  15th  of  February,  1819,  he  told  her 
of  the  catastrophe,*  in  the  following  lines : — 

"  The  die  is  cast ;  the  unfortunate  event  for  which  my 
last  letters  must  in  some  measure  have  prepared  you  has 
taken  place ;  and  my  father,  in  the  evening  of  his  days, 
finds  himself  robbed  of  his  property,  with  all  the  forms 
of  law  and  mockery  of  justice,  —  at  a  time,  too,  when,  as 
he  thought,  all  his  difficulties  had  vanished,  and  he  was 
soon  to  meet  a  reward  for  all  the  toil,  trouble,  and  painful 
anxiety  this  unfortunate  affair  had  cost  him.  The  ways 
of  Providence,  we  are  told,  are  invariably  governed  by 
the  strictest  principles  of  justice,  and  we  are  perhaps 
bound  to  believe  it;  but  certainly  they  are  extraordina 
rily  mysterious.  It  is  difficult  to  reconcile  with  our  no 
tions  of  justice  the  uninterrupted  series  of  misfortunes 
which  has  attended  my  father,  whose  goodness  and  un 
conquerable  patience  seem  only  to  have  made  him  more 
enemies,  and  drawn  upon  him  greater  persecutions.  His 
usual  fortitude,  however,  has  not  forsaken  him  on  this 
momentous  occasion ;  and  the  dignified  composure  with 
which  he  listened  to  the  judgment  which  blasted  all  his 
hopes,  and  stripped  him  of  the  fruits  of  fourteen  years' 
hard  and  painful  labor,  drew  tears  from  the  eyes  of  all 

*  This  particular  decision  is  re-  Livingston  in  full,  in  6  Martin's 
ported  at  length,  with  the  opposing  Louisiana  Reports,  19-256;  and  see 
arguments  of  Moreau  -  Lislet  and  pp.  281-415  of  the  same  volume. 


24-8  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

his  friends,  and  struck  with  awe  his  bitterest  enemies, — 
those  even  who  were  instrumental  in  his  ruin.  He  does 
not  utter  a  complaint ;  but  the  shock  has  been  too  cruel 
and  severe,  and  though  he  does  not  suffer  his  affliction 
to  show  itself  by  any  outward  signs,  still  it  cannot  but 
prey  deeply  on  his  mind.  His  health,  which  before  was 
delicate,  has  been  impaired  by  it,  and,  in  his  present  situa 
tion,  I  dread  to  think  of  the  difficulties  he  has  still  to 
encounter.  The  public  are  equally  surprised  and  indig 
nant  at  the  flagrant  injustice  of  the  case,  and  openly  ex 
press  themselves  upon  the  subject.  They  cannot  help 
sympathizing  for  the  unmerited  misfortunes  of  a  man 
whose  worth,  talents,  and  integrity  they  all  acknowledge, 
and  whose  ruin  they  are  now  sensible  has  been  effected  by 
a  few  artful  and  designing  men,  who  could  not  bear  the 
idea  of  seeing  the  man  they  hated  and  envied  add  the 
advantages  of  wealth  to  those  which  nature  and  educa 
tion  had  already  bestowed  upon  him." 

When  Livingston  returned  from  the  court  to  his  house, 
on  this  disastrous  day,  his  family  began  to  express  the 
feelings  which  filled  their  hearts.  But  he  soon  cut  the 
conversation  on  this  subject  short  by  saying,  "  Come,  let 
us  say  no  more  about  it,  and  let  us  have  the  dinner 
served."  During  the  meal  he  preserved  his  usual  cheer 
ful  demeanor;  and  afterwards,  taking  by  the  hand  his* 
little  daughter,  he  walked  with  her,  according  to  his  habit, 
in  the  early  evening,  for  an  hour  upon  the  levee,  talking 
with  her  only  of  her  lessons  and  the  various  topics  which 
interest  childhood,  without  allowing  her  to  dream  that 
any  subject  was  resting  heavily  upon  his  mind. 

This  adverse  decision  was  by  no  means  an  end  of  the 
contest  respecting  the   title  of  the  Batture.     The  whole 
subject  was  not  in  question,  and  some  reservations  were  • 
made  by  the  court  in  favor  of  his  title  to  a  considerable 


LEWIS   LIVINGSTON. 

part  of  the  property,  to  depend  upon  circumstances  after 
wards  to  appear.  There  was  still  much  money  to  come 
out  of  this  stubborn  mine,  once  so  promising  ;  but  its 
realization  was  now  quite  indefinitely  postponed.  The 
litigation  grew  in  intricacy,  till  Livingston,  in  later  years, 
was  accustomed  to  say,  "  This  matter  has  become  so  com 
plicated  that  only  two  persons  in  the  world  now  under 
stand  it,  myself  and  Mazureau," — referring  to  the  lead 
ing  counsel  employed  in  the  case  against  him.  He  would 
add,  "Perhaps  I  ought  to  say  Mazureau  and  myself;  for 
I  don't  know  but  he  understands  it  better  than  I  do." 

In  1820,  Mr.  Livingston  accepted  a  seat  in  the  lower 
house  of  the  Louisiana  legislature,  A  variety  of  notes 
and  memoranda,  in  his  handwriting,  which  I  have  ex 
amined,  prove  that  he  was  a  most  active  and  useful  mem 
ber  ;  that  he  served  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Ways  and  Means,  and  that  in  this  capacity  he  gave  his 
industrious  attention  to  a  great  variety  of  the  ordinary 
subjects  of  legislation.  He  presently  took  the  laboring 
oar  in  a  commission,  in  which  he  was  joined  with  Moreau- 
Lislet  and  Derbigny,  charged  with  the  task  of  reducing  to 
a  code  the  whole  body  of  the  law  of  the  State  relating  to 
civil  rights  and  remedies, — a  task  which  was  completed  by 
the  commissioners,  whose  work  the  legislature,  in  1825, 
for  the  most  part  ratified.  In  the  composition  of  this 
code  there  are  manifest  a  care  and  an  elegance  hardly 
to  be  found  elsewhere  in  the  language  of  legislative  enact 
ments.  Several  titles  —  as  those  of  obligations,  of  com 
mercial  agencies,  and  of  partnerships  —  were  solely  from 
Livingston's  pen,  which  he  nevertheless  industriously  em 
ployed  upon  other  parts,  as  well  as  in  shaping  the  whole 
structure,  and  in  preparing  elaborate  reports  to  the  legis 
lature  of  the  plans  and  progress  of  the  commissioners. 

But  the  chief  employment  of  Livingston  at  this  time — 

32 


250  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

and  perhaps  the  opportunity  for  broaching  it  was  his 
main  reason  for  accepting  a  seat  in  the  legislature  —  was 
the  beginning  of  the  most  important  labor  of  his  life,  his 
system  of  penal  law,  in  which  he  undertook  a  more  com 
prehensive  reform  than  had  been  suggested  by  any  pre 
vious  legislator  or  writer.  Of  this  work  it  will  be  a 
part  of  my  remaining  task  to  chronicle  the  progress, 
completion,  and  effect. 

In  the  winter  of  1821,  in  the  midst  of  these  occupa 
tions,  Mr.  Livingston  began  to  feel  some  uneasiness  re 
specting  the  state  of  his  son's  health,  whose  symptoms 
appeared  to  threaten  a  premature  decline.  Several  phy 
sicians  were  consulted,  who  united  in  advising  the  experi 
ment  of  a  voyage.  In  April,  the  young  man  sailed  for 
France.  The  effects  of  the  -voyage  did  not  prove  so  bene 
ficial  as  had  been  hoped ;  but  still  much  encouragement 
was  derived  from  the  opinions  of  the  French  physicians 
who  were  consulted.  The  letters  of  the  invalid  to  his 
father  —  touching  upon  all  the  topics  which  came  in  his 
way,  persons,  places,  and  politics,  science,  literature,  and 
art  —  wear  the  easy  grace  of  an  accomplished  and 
balanced  mind.  He  was  especially  attentive  to  the  col 
lection  and  transmission  of  all  books  which  he  thought 
might  help  his  father  in  the  particular  studies  in  which 
the  latter  was  then  engaged.  In  a  letter,  dated  at  Paris, 
the  28th  of  June,  1821,  he  thus  described  his  first  inter 
view  with  Lafayette :  — 

"  You  were  not  mistaken,  my  dear  father,  as  to  the 
reception  that  awaited  me  from  this  good  old  man.  Had 
I  been  his  son,  it  could  not  have  been  more  kind  and 
cordial.  I  called  very  early  in  the  morning,  and  was 
introduced  into  a  very  modest  little  parlor,  with  no  other 
ornaments  than  a  fine  engraving  of  Canova's  statue  of 
Washington,  and  a  large  framed  tableau  containing  a 


LEWIS   LIVINGSTON. 

print  of  the  constitutions  of  the  different  States.  Here 
I  waited  until  my  name  had  been  given,  and  your  letter, 
which  I  sent  in  at  the  same  time,  had  been  read.  I  was 
then  led  into  an  adjoining  bedroom,  where  I  found  the 
General  confined  with  a  slight  attack  of  the  gout.  Upon 
seeing  me,  however,  he  stretched  himself  out  of  his  bed, 
and  taking  my  hand  with  both  his,  he  drew  me  towards 
him  with  so  much  warmth,  and  with  an  expression  of  such 
kindness  and  good-will  as  really  quite  affected  me.  He 
spoke  of  all  our  family  with  great  interest,  particularly  of 
Mrs.  Montgomery  and  yourself,  regretting  that  there  was 
so  little  prospect  of  his  ever  seeing  you  in  Europe.  How 
delightful  it  is  to  contemplate  a  mind  like  this ;  to  see  a 
man,  who,  after  having  pursued  such  a  career  as  Lafay 
ette,  and  having  reached  the  highest  pinnacle  of  glory, 
(for  I  would  not  exchange  his  name  for  that  of  any  man 
in  Europe,)  still  possesses  those  social  feelings  which 
honor  and  dignify  the  human  heart ;  to  see  him,  in  the 
midst  of  his  greatness,  not  unmindful  of  the  friends  of 
his  early  days,  nor  willing  to  forget  services  and  acts 
of  kindness  received  in  other  times.  In  this  respect, 
nothing  that  has  been  said  of  him  has  been  exaggerated; 
his  countenance  is  the  mirror  of  perfect  benevolence,  and 
no  one  in  examining  his  features  and  his  expression  could 
say  less  than  '  This  is  a  truly  good  man ! '  He  is  now 
warmly  engaged  with  Benjamin  Constant  and  other  true 
friends  of  their  country  in  resisting  the  measures  adopted 
by  the  Court  party,  —  measures  which,  if  persevered  in, 
he  thinks  will  prove  fatal.  He  is  convinced,  he  says 
openly,  that  nothing  but  the  recollection  of  the  horrors 
of  the  last  revolution  has  induced  the  considerate  and 
thinking  men  in  the  country  to  check  the  disposition 
everywhere  evinced  by  the  people  to  rise  en  masse.  The 
very  nature  of  the  present  debates,  which  are  carried  on 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

with  so  much  warmth  as  to  have  become  even  riotous, 
indicates  an  approaching  catastrophe.  The  ministers  are 
determined  not  to  yield,  and  the  people  are  equally  de 
termined  not  to  be  trampled  upon. 

"  General  Lafayette,  who  is  the  only  person  I  have  yet 
called  upon,  advised  me  to  have  recourse  to  a  Dr.  Moreau, 
a  friend  of  his,  and  a  man  of  standing  in  his  profession. 
I  was  of  course  guided  by  his  advice,  and  received  from 
him  a  letter  for  the  Doctor,  which  has  obtained  me  the 
most  unremitted  care  and  attention.  Dr.  Moreau  rec 
ommends  the  mode  of  life  I  am  now  leading,  for  about 
ten  days  longer,  or  until  he  has  ascertained  there  is  no 
danger  of  a  second  return  of  the  ague,  and  then  advises 
me  to  retire  for  some  weeks  to  La  Grange,  to  which  I 
have  received  the  most  pressing  invitations  from  the 
General." 

The  next  month,  in  a  letter  announcing  the  transmis 
sion  of  several  literary  treasures,  Lewis  wrote  as  fol 
lows  :  — 

"  You  will  also  receive  a  late  production  of  Lord  By 
ron's,  and  a  work  upon  '  La  Legislation  Criminelle,'  by 
Dupin,  who  appears  to  be  acknowledged  as  the  head  of 
the  French  bar.  Whatever  may  be  his  talents,  his  char 
acter  presents  itself  in  the  most  favorable  point  of  view; 
for  we  see  in  him  the  generous  advocate  of  Ney,  of 
Labadoyere,  of  Lavallette  and  his  deliverers,  and  of  all 
who  have  had  to  contend  against  tyranny  and  injustice. 
His  present  work  contains  sentiments  perfectly  in  unison 
with  your  own,  and  I  send  it  under  the  idea  that  it  may 
be  useful  to  you  in  the  formation  of  your  code.  As  the 
business  time  of  the  year  is  now  nearly  elapsed,  I  pre 
sume  you  are  busily  engaged  in  your  great  undertaking ; 
but  it  seems  to  me  that  you  will  hardly  have  got  through 
the  work  before  the  next  session  of  the  legislature." 


LEWIS   LIVINGSTON.  £53 

The  following  passage  is  extracted  from  a  long  letter 
written  by  the  young  invalid  while  on  a  visit  to  the  baths 
at  Bagneres,  in  August,  to  his  aged  aunt,  Mrs.  Mont 
gomery  :  — 

"  I  dined  with  the  Marquis  de  Marbois,  a  few  days 
before  I  left  Paris.  He  could  hardly  recover  his  sur 
prise  upon  my  presenting  him  a  letter  from  the  widow 
of  General  Montgomery.  He  begged  me  to  assure  you 
of  his  gratitude  for  your  recollection  of  him,  and  added 
that  he  would  himself  express  to  you  his  feelings  by  the 
first  opportunity  that  offered.  I  must  not  omit  men 
tioning,  either,  the  compliment  the  Count  de  la  Forest 
paid  you.  Hearing  I  was  from  New  York,  he  accosted 
me  in  a  salon  where  we  both  spent  the  evening,  and 
made  many  inquiries  respecting  his  old  acquaintances, 
and,  among  others,  asked  whether  I  knew  Mrs.  Mont 
gomery,  describing  her  as  '  une  femme  de  beaucoup  d'es- 
prit  et  d'agremens.'  Do  not  accuse  me  of  wishing  to 
flatter  you.  I  but  repeat  the  truth." 

The  young  man  remained  in  Europe  only  till  the  au 
tumn,  with  varying  hopes  as  to  his  health.  He  then 
wrote  to  his  father  that  he  had  concluded  to  hasten  home; 
but  he  did  not  reveal  the  fact  that  the  object  of  the  sud 
den  resolution  was  to  die  in  his  father's  arms.  He  sailed 
from  Marseilles  on  the  10th  of  November,  in  a  vessel 
bound  to  New  Orleans.  His  letter  reached  Mr.  Liv 
ingston  but  a  few  days  before  the  ship  arrived.  These 
were  days  of  intense  anxiety  to  the  father.  About  the 
middle  of  January,  1 822,  the  vessel  appeared,  and  he 
hastened  on  board,  in  order  to  see  what  change  had 
come  upon  the  beloved  features.  But  those  features 
he  was  never  again  to  behold.  Lewis,  the  victim  of  an 
ultimately  rapid  consumption,  had  been,  on  the  26th  of 
December,  buried  by  strangers,  at  sea. 


LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

It  was  many  years  after  suffering  this  stroke  before 
Mr.  Livingston  could  bring  himself  to  the  point  of  un 
locking  the  writing-desk  in  which  the  youth  had  left 
his  papers,  and  which  his  hands  had  last  locked.  His 
name,  it  is  said,  never  afterwards  passed  the  father's 
lips.  The  letters  of  the  latter  once  or  twice  alluded  to 
the  subject  of  his  loss ;  but  it  was  not  in  Livingston's  na 
ture  to  break  silence  over  the  more  acute  pangs  of  the 
heart. 

The  withering  traces  of  this  grief  were  long  visible  to 
all  who  saw  him,  and  his  family  believed  that  its  effects 
might  have  been  more  disastrous  still,  but  for  the  impetus 
under  which  he  was  at  the  time  moving  towards  the  com 
pletion  of  his  great  work  which  was  destined  in  a  few 
years  to  introduce  him  among  the  brotherhood  of  phil 
anthropic  thinkers  of  all  countries  in  his  own  time,  and 
perhaps  to  enroll  his  name  on  the  list  of  the  recognized 
apostles  of  human  progress  in  different  ages.  Of  this 
work,  as  well  as  the  circumstances  and  manner  of  its 
production,  I  shall  next  try  to  present  an  accurate  and 
succinct  outline. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE    LIVINGSTON    CODE. 

Mr.  Livingston's  Commission  by  the  Legislature  to  prepare  a  Penal 
Code  —  His  Qualifications  and  Zeal —  Report  of  his  Plan —  Approbation 
of  the  latter  by  the  Legislature  —  Completion  of  the  Code  —  Its  Destruc 
tion  by  Fire,  and  Restoration  —  State  of  Criminal  Laws  in  Louisiana  in 
1820  —  Original  Features  of  the  Livingston  Code — Proposal  to  abolish 
the  Punishment  of  Death  —  Details  of  the  Proposed  System  —  Explanatory 
Reports  to  the  Legislature  —  Neglect  of  the  latter  to  act  upon  the  Re 
ported  Code  —  Effects  of  its  Publication. 

IN  February,  1821,  Edward  Livingston  was  elected  by 
joint  ballot  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Louisiana  to  re 
vise  tbe  entire  system  of  criminal  law  of  the  State.  For 
such  a  task  no  man  ever  had  more  complete  or  more 
comprehensive  qualifications.  He  was  fifty-seven  years 
of  age,  and  in  the  prime  of  intellectual  strength.  He 
had  studied  profoundly,  and  during  most  of  his  life,  the 
Roman,  the  English,  the  French,  and  the  Spanish  laws. 
He  was  master  of  all  the  languages  in  which  those  laws 
are  written  and  treated.  The  variety  of  his  professional 
business  had  made  him  as  familiar  with  the  practical 
working  as  with  the  theory  of  each  system.  He  had 
had  some  judicial  experience  in  a  court  of  both  civil  and 
criminal  jurisdiction.  His  miscellaneous  acquirements 
and  general  culture  were  such,  in  extent  and  variety,  as 
have  rarely,  if  ever,  been  excelled  by  any  man  of  ordi 
nary  and  active  pursuits.  He  had  an  unusual  knowledge 
of  men  in  every  condition,  and  of  all  characters,  and  es 
pecially  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  peculiar  people 
directly  interested.  Philanthropy  was  the  basis  of  his 


256  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

own  nature,  and  a  keen  interest  in  the  affairs  of  human 
ity  and  society  had  given  direction  to  much  of  his  read 
ing  and  reflection. 

Thus  prepared,  he  undertook  the  work  with  prodig 
ious  energy  and  enthusiasm.  Indeed,  the  whole  scheme 
was  his  own,  conceived  deliberately  in  his  rnind  alone, 
matured  there  in  outline  hefore  being  broached  to  the 
public,  and  finally  heralded  by  legislation  conducted 
under  his  direction.  The  initial  act,  passed  in  1820, 
was  undoubtedly  framed,  word  for  word,  by  him.  The 
entire  proposed  reform,  and  the  grounds  of  it,  are  there 
correctly  sketched  in  a  short  preamble  and  a  single  sec 
tion.  The  former  recites  the  "  primary  importance,  in 
every  well-regulated  State,  that  the  code  of  criminal  law 
should  be  founded  on  one  principle,  namely,  the  preven 
tion  of  crime ;  that  all  offences  should  be  explicitly  and 
clearly  defined,  in  language  generally  understood ;  that 
punishments  should  be  proportioned  to  offences ;  that  the 
rules  of  evidence  should  be  ascertained  as  applicable  to 
each  offence ;  that  the  mode  of  procedure  should  be  sim 
ple,  and  the  duty  of  magistrates,  executive  officers,  and 
individuals  assisting  them,  should  be  pointed  out  by  law ; 
and  that,  in  many  or  all  of  these  points,  the  system  of 
criminal  law  by  which  Louisiana  was  then  governed  was 
defective."  The  latter  enacts  that  "  a  person  learned  in 
the  law  shall  be  appointed  by  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  at  this  session,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to 
prepare  and  present  to  the  next  General  Assembly,  for 
its  consideration,  a  code  of  criminal  law,  in  both  the 
French  and  English  languages,  designating  all  criminal 
offences  punishable  by  law ;  defining  the  same  in  clear 
and  explicit  terms ;  designating  the  punishment  to  be 
inflicted  on  each ;  laying  down  the  rules  of  evidence  on 
trials ;  directing  the  whole  mode  of  procedure,  and  point- 


THE    LIVINGSTON    CODE. 

ing  out  the  duties  of  judicial  and  executive  officers  in  the 
performance  of  their  functions  under  it."  This  was  an 
uncommonly  concise  and  exact  way  of  laying  out  a  vast 
undertaking,  and  could  only  have  been  the  work  of  the 
man  who  had  made  himself  ready  for  the  task. 

Mr.  Livingston  reported  to  the  legislature,  at  its  next 
session,  his  whole  plan.  He  had,  in  the  mean  time,  writ 
ten  to  the  Governors,  and  to  various  officers  and  distin 
guished  men  of  all  the  other  States,  to  the  principal  foreign 
ministers  of  the  General  Government,  and  to  many  pub 
licists  in  different  countries,  asking  for  practical  informa 
tion,  to  be  used  in  shaping  the  details  of  the  work.  His 
success  in  eliciting  answers  had  not  been  encouraging, 
but  he  felt  no  disposition  to  procrastinate  any  part  of  the 
labor. 

This  report  goes  over  the  entire  ground  covered  by 
the  system  of  penal  law,  as  afterwards  perfected  and  sub 
mitted.  From  the  plan  there  were  none  but  formal  de 
partures  in  the  execution. 

The  legislature  promptly  passed  resolutions  approving 
the  report,  and  urging  the  author  to  prosecute  his  work 
according  to  the  plan.  Under  this  sanction  he  proceeded, 
and,  two  years  later,  was  ready  to  submit,  for  legislative 
action,  the  complete  product  of  his  studies,  —  a  system 
of  penal  law,  divided  into  codes,  books,  chapters,  sections, 
and  articles,  accompanied  by  several  introductory  essays, 
setting  forth  copious,  exhaustive,  and  graphic  expositions 
of  every  part. 

At  this  important  point  he  met  with  a  disaster  well 
calculated  to  put  an  end  to  his  enterprise  and  extinguish 
his  ambition.  He  had  given  the  final,  lingering  touches 
to  the  draught  of  his  work.  An  engrossed  copy,  for  the 
printer,  had  been  made.  One  night  he  sat  up  late  to 
finish  the  task  of  comparing  the  two  papers.  That  task 
33 


258  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

was  done,  and  with  it  the  great  mental  undertaking. 
Relieved  of  a  long-borne  and  heavy,  though  not  dis 
tasteful  burden,  he  went  to  sleep.  An  alarm  of  fire 
awoke  him.  He  rushed  to  the  room  where  he  had  left 
his  papers.  Both  draught  and  copy  were  reduced  to  ashes. 
The  next  morning  he  sat  down  to  the  work  of  reproduc 
ing  the  vanished  structure.  He  was  then  sixty  years 
of  age.  In  two  years  more,  the  reproduction  was  com 
plete,  —  a  phoenix  of  what  had  been  destroyed. 

In  order  to  measure  the  importance  of  Livingston's 
project,  it  is  necessary  to  look  at  the  sources,  the  history, 
and  the  state  —  as  he  found  them  —  of  the  criminal 
laws  of  Louisiana. 

Early  in  the  last  century,  the  French  made  some  be 
ginnings  to  settle  the  territory  of  Orleans,  in  pursuance 
of  a  plan  to  establish  and  fortify  a  chain  of  possessions 
from  Canada  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River.  But 
the  ground  was  claimed  by  Spain,  as  being  part  of  Flor 
ida,  by  right  of  prior  conquest  and  possession.  There 
was  no  distinctness,  however,  in  the  boundaries  or  geog 
raphy  of  the  immense  wilderness  in  the  midst  of  which 
the  territory  lay.  As  a  result  of  these  circumstances, 
the  settlement  proceeded  with  accessions  of  citizens  of 
France  and  Spain,  and  from  the  neighboring  colonies 
of  both  nations.  Definite  government  became  necessary, 
and  negotiations  were  had  between  the  two  crowns,  which, 
in  1763,  ended  in  mutual  cessions  of  distinct  regions, 
that  of  Orleans  going  to  Spain.  In  1769,  that  power 
formally  promulgated  its  whole  system  of  laws  as  con 
trolling  the  new  province.  Under  those  laws  it  re 
mained  when  the  country  was  retroceded  to  France. 
That  transaction  was  not  consummated  until  1803,  and 
then  only  provisionally  and  to  enable  Napoleon  to  deliver 
a  title  to  the  United  States.  The  laws  of  Spain  were 


THE    LIVINGSTON    CODE. 

left  unrepealed  in  the  territory  by  the  double  transfer,  it 
being  "  an  established  rule  of  national  law  that  on  the 
transfer  or  conquest  of  a  country  the  municipal  laws  re 
main  in  force  until  they  are  expressly  changed  by  the 
new  government." 

Congress  passed  an  act  of  October  31,  1803,  author 
izing  the  President  to  take  possession  of  the  new  prov 
ince,  and  vesting  in  officers  to  be  appointed  by  him  the 
same  military,  civil,  and  judicial  powers  that  were  exer 
cised  under  the  Spanish  government.  The  next  year, 
another  act  established  a  government  for  the  territory, 
extending  to  it  the  operation  of  certain  laws  of  the  United 
States,  —  such  as  those  securing  the  trial  by  jury,  and  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus;  but  declaring  that  all  laws  in 
force  in  the  Territory,  at  the  passage  of  the  act,  and  not 
inconsistent  with  it,  should  continue  in  force  until  altered, 
modified,  or  repealed  by  the  legislature.  The  same  pro 
vision  was  repeated  in  the  act  of  Congress  of  1805,  which 
gave  the  Territory  another  grade  of  government ;  and 
when  it  ceased  to  be  a  Territory,  in  18 IS,  a  like  provi 
sion  went  into  the  constitution  of  the  new  State. 

No  further  abrogation  of  the  Spanish  penal  laws  had 
in  1820  been  enacted  in  Louisiana,  except  that  the  Ter 
ritorial  legislature  had,  in  1805,  by  law  specified  a  lim 
ited  number  of  ordinary  crimes  and  misdemeanors,  and 
declared  that  the  offences  so  enumerated  should  be  con 
strued  and  tried  according  to  the  common  law  of  Eng 
land.  Of  course,  other  offences  were  legally  left  for 
definition  and  punishment  to  the  laws  of  Spain  in  force 
when  she  parted  with  the  province.  These  laws  had  been 
the  growth  of  ages,  some  of  them  of  very  dark  ages. 
Many  of  them  might  be  practically  obsolete  in  Louisiana, 
because  too  cruel  or  too  absurd  to  be  executed  there ; 
others,  not  so  bad  in  themselves,  might  be  disregarded 


260  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

by  the  courts  and  by  public  opinion,  or  might  be  unknown 
to  either  judges  or  people.  Nevertheless,  they  remained 
strictly  a  part  of  the  law  of  the  State,  —  a  useless  and 
perhaps  dangerous  part.  It  is  interesting  to  glance  in 
review  at  some  of  these  penal  laws,  lingering  far  from 
home,  upon  uncongenial  soil,  scarcely  recognized,  yet  not 
formally  put  away. 

One  of  the  most  curious  heads  of  these  unrepealed  laws 
was  that  called  Enfamamiento,  forming  a  title  in  the 
seventh  book  of  the  Partidas.  By  its  provisions,  infamy 
was  denounced  indiscriminately  upon  persons  of  various 
classes,  including  children  of  illegal  marriages,  suitors  or 
advocates  incurring  rebuke,  whether  just  or  not,  from  a 
judge  in  court,  slanderers,  unfaithful  depositaries,  widows 
marrying  before  the  expiration  of  a  year's  mourning,  their 
too  impatient  new  husbands,  procurers,  comedians,  mounte 
banks,  usurers,  gamblers,  and  buffoons,  —  an  extraordi 
nary  jumble,  truly,  for  the  Anglo-Saxon  mind  to  contem 
plate.  This  kind  of  infamy  attached,  not  upon  convic 
tion  only,  but  from  the  fact.  It  worked  exclusion  from 
office,  and  incapacity  to  testify  in  a  court  of  justice.  These 
disabilities  had  been  but  partially  remedied  by  any  express 
enactment  in  the  constitution  or  statutes  of  Louisiana. 

Nor  had  legislation  touched  those  provisions  of  the 
Partidas  which,  under  the  head  of  falsedades,  or  crimen 
falsi,  made  it  criminal  and  punishable  with  banishment 
and  confiscation  of  all  property  for  an  advocate  to  be 
tray  the  secrets  of  his  client,  or  designedly  to  cite  the 
law  falsely;  for  a  notary  to  deny  the  deposit  of  any 
writing,  or  to  hide  or  deliver  it  to  another,  or  to  read 
or  publish  it,  if  deposited  with  him  to  be  kept  secret; 
for  a  judge  knowingly  to  give  judgment  contrary  to  law; 
for  any  person  to  say  mass  without  ordination  ;  for  any 
one  to  change  his  name  by  taking  one  more  honorable; 


THE    LIVINGSTON   CODE. 

or  for  a  woman  to  feign  maternity,  and  produce  a  coun 
terfeit  heir. 

The  industry  of  this  old  code  had,  under  the  title  of 
homicide,  (des  los  omezillos,)  provided  for  punishing',  in 
cases  of  fatal  results,  the  malpractice  of  quacks,  and  the 
blunders  of  physicians,  surgeons,  or  apothecaries,  as  well 
as  the  administering  of  drugs,  either  for  the  destruction 
of  the  unborn,  or  for  the  opposite  purpose  of  overcoming 
barrenness. 

Defamation  (deshonras)  was  a  very  comprehensive  title 
of  the  Partidas*  It  included  all  acts  designed  to  degrade 
or  dishonor  another,  whether  by  writing,  printing,  speech, 
gesture,  assault  and  battery,  overstrained  gallantry,  or 
inflicting  smoke  upon  a  neighbor  overhead,  or  water 
upon  a  neighbor  nearer  the  ground. 

By  the  same  code,  not  only  were  adulterers,  seducers, 
and  their  agents  punishable  with  stripes  and  confinement, 
banishment,  confiscation,  or  death,  but  their  offences  were 
subjected  to  some  peculiarly  severe  definitions  and  to 
some  specially  hard  rules  of  evidence.  And  these  enact 
ments  had  not  been  repealed  in  Spain  or  in  Louisiana. 

There  were  even  left  some  remains  of  those  parts  of 
the  old  system  which  denounced  bloody  penalties  upon 
the  crimes  of  Judaism,  heresy,  and  blasphemy,  and  which 
regulated  torture,  some  vestiges  of  the  pillory,  of  public 
whipping,  and  of  burning  to  death ;  and  some  horrors, 
in  the  way  of  punishments  strictly  legal,  had  been,  un 
der  the  Territorial  government,  actually  imposed  in  some 
parishes  of  the  province,  by  magistrates  of  an  antiqua 
rian  turn,  and  disposed 

"  To  awaken  all  the  enrolled  penalties 
Which  had,  like  unscour'd  armor,  hung  by  the  wall, 
And  none  of  them  been  worn,"  * 

*  This  use  of  the  passage  here  ingston's  communications  to  the 
quoted  I  borrow  from  one  of  Liv-  legislature.  In  this  instance,  as  in 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

revealing  to  the  citizens  of  the  State  the  common  danger 
that  judges  might  be  found,  at  any  time,  and  when  such 
an  evil  would  be  least  anticipated,  determined 

"  To  put  some  drowsy  and  neglected  act 
Freshly  on  " 

such  as  should  come  within  the  range  of  their  prejudice, 
caprice,  or  resentment. 

To  sweep  away  all  this  rubbish,  with  the  system  to 
which  it  belonged,  or,  in  retaining  any  portion  of  the 
latter,  to  reduce  that  portion  to  certainty  and  intelligi 
bility,  was  the  first  object  of  the  Livingston  Code.  On 
this  subject,  the  following  is  part  of  the  language  ad 
dressed  by  the  author  to  the  law-makers:  — 

"  Be  assured,  legislators,  of  this  truth,  that  there  can  be 
no  law  of  which  the  existence  is  a  matter  of  indifference. 
It  must  remain  in  your  code  for  good  or  for  evil :  for 
good,  if  it  be  a  wise  law,  and  carried  into  effect ;  for  evil, 
whether  it  be  good  or  bad,  if  it  remain  unexecuted.  In 
the  one  case,  the  people  are  taught  the  dangerous  lesson, 
that  the  best  precepts  may  be  disregarded  with  impunity  ; 
in  the  other,  they  are  subjected,  when  the  danger  is  least 
apprehended,  to  the  unjust  operation  of  a  forgotten  law. 
Indeed,  there  is  scarcely  a  greater  reproach  to  the  juris 
prudence  of  a  nation  than  the  existence  of  obsolete  laws ; 
that  is  to  say,  laws  that  are  none,  —  laws  that  are  no  rule 
to  guide  our  actions,  because  they  are  unknown  to,  or 
forgotten  by,  those  upon  whom  they  are  to  operate,  but 
which  may  yet  be  used  to  punish  them  for  their  contraven 
tion,  because  they  are  known  and  remembered  by  those 
who  are  empowered  to  enforce  them,  whenever  the  malice 

many  others,  he  seems  to  have  quot-  the  substance  of   a  passage,  and   to 

ed  from  memory,  and  he  did  not  ex-  attend   little  to   its   precise  form,  as 

actly  follow   his   author;     Indeed,  in  if  he  intended  to  give  the  quoted  au- 

quotations   of  this   sort   he   often,  if  thor   credit     for   his    thought   rather 

not  habitually,   did   the  same   thing,  than  for  his  language, 
appearing    to   content   himself   with 


THE    LIVINGSTON   CODE.  263 

of  a  prosecutor,  or  the  ignorance,  corruption,  or  party 
feeling  of  a  judge,  may  induce  him  to  draw  the  rusty 
sword  from  its  scahhard Hear  what  the  wise  Ba 
con  says  on  this  suhject,  'The  prophet  says,  it  shall  rain 
snares  upon  them  j  but  of  all  snares,  the  snares  of  the 
law  are  the  worst,  especially  of  the  penal  law ;  when  they 
have  hecome  useless,  either  by  the  accumulation  of  their 
number,  or  by  the  lapse  of  time,  they  are  not  a  light  to 
guide  our  steps,  but  a  net  to  entangle  them  ; '  and  '  Here 
is  a  further  inconvenience  of  obsolete  penal  laws ;  for 
this  brings  on  a  gangrene,  neglect,  and  habit  of  disobe 
dience  upon  other  wholesome  laws,  that  are  fit  to  be 
continued  in  practice  and  execution,  so  that  our  laws  en 
dure  the  torment  of  Mezentius,  the  living  die  in  the  arms 
of  the  dead.' " 

But  the  Spanish  system  did  not  furnish  all  the  rust 
and  rubbish  which  Livingston  aimed  to  remove.  There 
was  much  in  the  common  law  of  England  —  laconically 
introduced  and  referred  to,  for  definition,  evidence,  and 
procedure  in  certain  cases,  as  we  have  seen,  by  the  act 
of  1805  —  which  he  desired  to  lop  away  from  the  juris 
prudence  of  the  State,  as  well  as  much  that  he  wished, 
while  retaining  it,  to  clothe  with  perspicuity,  simplicity, 
and  certainty.  He  reviewed  that  system,  —  with  which, 
at  the  expense  of  long  study  and  practice,  he  was  pro 
foundly  familiar,  —  without  reverence  on  the  one  hand, 
and  on  the  other  without  prejudice,  but  in  the  spirit  of 
a  reformer  as  radical  as  enlightened.  He  wished  the 
new  State  to  be  rid  of  the  vagueness,  mystery,  and 
dependence  on  uncertain  oracles,  which  centuries  have 
piled  upon  "  the  perfection  of  reason,"  and  to  receive, 
in  their  place,  precise,  plain,  and  full  regulations  suffi 
cient  for  all  cases,  gathered  in  a  single  book,  where 
everything  good  in  each  of  the  previous  systems  might 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

be  caught  and  preserved  in  a  shape  to  be  understood,  and 
where  written  law  should,  so  far  as  possible,  supersede 
precedent,  custom,  and  tradition.  His  scheme,  in  part, 
was,  instead  of  leaving  the  laws  of  crime  and  punish 
ment  what  they  had  been,  a  mystery  to  lawyers  and 
judges,  to  bring  them  directly  to  the  knowledge  and 
comprehension  of  the  people. 

The  conscientious  devotion  of  Livingston  to  this  lead 
ing  idea  is  illustrated  by  the  painstaking  way  he  adopted 
of  escaping  ambiguities  of  language  in  the  enactments 
he  proposed.  This  was  to  submit  the  entire  code,  after 
completion,  to  men  not  versed  in  the  phraseology  of  the 
law,  and  to  mark  for  explanation  every  word  not  fully 
or  accurately  understood  by  them.  The  words  so  marked 
were,  in  the  body  of  the  work,  always  printed  in  a  pecu 
liar  character,  to  show  that  they  were  the  subject  of  ex 
planation  in  a  separate  place,  the  Book  of  Definitions ; 
and  each  word  thus  marked  received  all  necessary  at 
tention  in  that  book. 

The  clearness  and  certainty  for  which  Livingston 
strove  went  beyond  the  outward  form  to  the  inner  sub 
stance.  He  proposed  enactments  expressly  abolishing  all 
constructive  offences,  and  all  distinctions  between  strict 
and  liberal  constructions  of  penal  statutes ;  forbidding 
every  departure  from  the  plain  letter  of  the  written  law, 
and  requiring  the  courts,  on  the  trial  of  a  criminal  charge 
prosecuted  under  an  ambiguous  act,  to  acquit  the  accused, 
and  immediately  report  the  case  to  the  legislature. 

One  of  the  main  directions  in  which  he  labored  to  have 
Louisiana  lead  the  age  was  humanity.  Remedial,  as 
against  vindictive  laws,  have  had  no  abler  and  no  more 
ardent  advocate.  Every  part  of  his  work  shows  this, 
but  it  is  chiefly  apparent  in  his  efforts  for  the  total  abo 
lition  of  the  penalty  of  death,  and  in  his  plans  for  the 


THE    LIVINGSTON    CODE. 

reformation  of  offenders.  By  the  former,  he  added  large 
ly  to  the  then  existing  stock  of  known  facts  and  argu 
ments  hearing  upon  the  suhject ;  and  in  the  latter,  he 
presented  views  entirely  original.  The  penalty  of  death 
had  not  been  done  away  by  any  of  the  United  States, 
then  twenty-four  in  number ;  and,  though  the  prison 
systems  of  several  of  the  States  were  in  advance  of  that 
of  Louisiana,  none  of  them  had  realized  the  prominent 
ideas  of  Livingston. 

The  catholicity  of  the  reformer's  spirit,  and  the  prac 
tical  nature  of  his  philanthropy,  are  visible  throughout 
his  treatment  of  these  topics.  With  him,  the  impor 
tance  of  the  proposed  changes  did  not  rest  upon  any 
narrow  doctrine  or  precise  theory  of  penal  law.  He  ex 
amined  with  keen  interest  the  several  conflicting  theories 
concerning  the  authority  for  all  punishment,  but  did  not 
feel  any  necessity  to  commit  himself  unreservedly  to 
either.  Such  questions  as  whether  the  right  to  punish 
criminals  depends  upon  an  implied  contract  between  so 
ciety  and  its  members,  or  merely  upon  the  ground  of 
utility,  or  upon  the  principle  of  abstract  justice  alone, 
and  whether  the  true  object  of  exercising  the  right  be 
solely  to  punish,  or  solely  to  reform,  or  both  punishment 
and  reformation,  and  in  what  degrees,  gave  him  no 
trouble,  because  he  held  that,  whatever  discord  in  argu 
ment  these  conflicting  doctrines  might  lead  through,  yet 
they  could  not  avoid  harmony  in  conclusion.  In  this 
way  he  dismissed  the  casuistry  of  the  subject,  which, 
after  all,  he  believed  had  its  origin  rather  in  a  confusion 
of  terms  than  in  any  real  foundation  for  dispute. 

The  grounds  upon  which  he  urged  the  abolition  of  the 
penalty  of  death,  though  humane  in  substance,  were  not 
those  of  a  dogmatist  or  sentimentalist.  He  looked  upon 
the  true  interests  of  society  as  paramount  to  all  consid- 

34 


266  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

erations  in  the  criminal's  behalf.  He  offered  a  substi 
tute  which,  whatever  might  prove  its  effect  as  a  public 
example,  would  certainly  not  have  held  out,  to  the  or 
dinary  transgressor,  an  alternative  much  less  terrible 
than  death.  It  was  imprisonment  for  life  in  a  solitary 
cell,  to  be  painted  black  without  and  within,  and  bearing 
a  conspicuous  outer  inscription,  in  distinct  white  letters, 
setting  forth  the  culprit's  name  and  his  offence,  with  its 
circumstances,  and  proceeding  with  a  fearfully  graphic 
description  of  his  doom: — "His  FOOD  is  BREAD  OF  THE 

COARSEST  KIND  ;    HIS  DRINK  IS  WATER  MINGLED  WITH  HIS 

TEARS;    HE  is  DEAD  TO  THE  WORLD;   THIS  CELL  is  HIS 

GRAVE  ;  HIS  EXISTENCE  IS  PROLONGED  THAT  HE  MAY 
REMEMBER  HIS  CRIME,  AND  REPENT  IT,  AND  THAT  THE 
CONTINUANCE  OF  HIS  PUNISHMENT  MAY  DETER  OTHERS 
FROM  THE  INDULGENCE  OF  HATRED,  AVARICE,  SENSUAL 
ITY,  AND  THE  PASSIONS  WHICH  LEAD  TO  THE  CRIME  HE 
HAS  COMMITTED.  WHEN  THE  ALMIGHTY,  IN  HIS  DUE 
TIME,  SHALL  EXERCISE  TOWARDS  HIM  THAT  DISPENSA 
TION  WHICH  HE  HIMSELF  ARROGANTLY  AND  WICKEDLY 
USURPED  TOWARDS  ANOTHER,  HIS  BODY  IS  TO  BE  DIS 
SECTED,  AND  HIS  SOUL  WILL  ABIDE  THAT  JUDGMENT 
WHICH  DIVINE  JUSTICE  SHALL  DECREE." 

The  most  important,  as  well  as  the  most  original  feat 
ure  of  Livingston's  work  was  his  proposal  to  enlarge 
the  scope  of  penal  legislation  so  as  to  take  in,  not  only 
such  measures  as  look  to  the  punishment  of  crime  after 
it  is  committed,  but  also  such  as  tend,  in  any  way,  how 
ever  remotely,  to  preclude  its  commission,  —  to  bring 
under  one  central  direction,  crime,  vagrancy,  mendicity, 
and  all  forms  of  pauperism,  —  in  short,  to  blend  into  a 
single  system  the  whole  machinery  of  poor-house,  wrork- 
house,  and  bridewell.  In  the  universal  separation  and 
independence  of  these  establishments  he  thought  he  dis- 


THE    LIVINGSTON    CODE. 

covered  a  chief  cause  of  the  failure  in  the  proper  efficiency 
and  value  of  each  one.  The  administrators  of  penal 
laws  have  always  heen  restricted  to  the  protection  of  so 
ciety  against  crime  only  by  waiting,  watching  for,  and 
then  punishing  its  commission,  while  the  administrators 
of  poor-laws  have  been  limited  to  the  business  of  feeding 
without  controlling  their  subjects ;  from  which  it  has 
resulted  that  one  of  these  departments  has  proved  a  pre 
paratory  school  for  the  other,  and,  between  the  two,  the 
children  of  poverty  and  crime  have  been  bandied  for 
ward  and  backward,  without  due  benefit  either  to  them 
selves  or  to  the  community.  The  ranks  of  those  who 
commit  the  more  positive  crimes  derive  almost  all  their  re 
cruits  from  those  who  cannot  or  who  will  not  honestly  toil, 
and  those  who,  though  willing  to  labor,  yet  lack  employ 
ment.  He  held  that  society  is  bound  to  support  such 
of  its  members  as  are  incapable  of  supporting  them 
selves,  and  has  a  corresponding  right  to  test  the  genuine 
ness  of  that  incapacity,  —  a  right  which  cannot  be  exer 
cised  without  at  the  same  time  exercising  a  strict  tutelage 
and  thorough  control  over  all  who  either  are  incapable 
of  self-support  or  pretend  to  be  so.  A  true  system  of 
penal  law,  therefore,  in  his  view,  should  deal  with  the 
entire  subject,  and  should  confer  upon  its  ministers  a 
pervading  and  organized  authority  over  the  evil  from 
top  to  foundation.  A  little  vigor  at  the  beginning  might 
save  a  good  deal  of  rigor  in  the  end.  Under  such  a 
system,  in  full  operation,  beggars  and  vagrants  could 
not  roam  abroad,  plying  their  vocations.  The  law  would 
immediately  take  custody  of  all  such,  and  assign  to  each 
his  place.  Those  unable  to  work  would  receive  simple 
support.  Those  able  and  willing  to  perform  labor,  but 
unsuccessful  in  getting  it,  would  be  furnished  with  tem 
porary  occupation  and  subsistence.  Those  competent, 


268  LIFE  OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

but  unwilling  to  earn  their  livelihood,  would  do  so  by 
compulsion.  All  these  would  be  classified  and  separated 
in  such  a  way  as  to  guard,  as  far  as  practicable,  against 
social  contamination,  an  evil  against  which  Livingston  took 
constant  pains  to  provide  in  every  part  of  his  system. 
Illegal  idleness  would  not  then  possess  the  charms  which 
freer  systems  impart  to  it,  and  would,  of  course,  be 
shunned  by  many  whom  it  now  attracts.  Under  such 
a  code,  whether  the  agents  of  the  pauper  establishment 
would  have  more  business  or  not,  the  criminal  courts 
would  certainly  have  less. 

The  machinery  proposed  for  the  working  of  the  sys 
tem  comprehended : 

A  House  of  Detention; 

A  Penitentiary ; 

A  House  of  Refuge  and  Industry ;  and 

A  School  of  Reform  ; 

all  under  the  superintendence  and  conduct  of  one  Board 
of  Inspectors.  The  House  of  Detention  was  designed 
as  a  place  of  simple  imprisonment,  with  two  separate  de 
partments:  the  first  to  hold  only  misdemeanants,  and  per 
sons  committed  for  trial  upon  minor  charges  or  as  wit 
nesses  ;  the  second,  those  committed  for  crimes  of  the 
higher  grades.  Its  regulations  were  intended  to  dis 
criminate  between  culprits  and  witnesses,  and  to  allevi 
ate  to  the  latter,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  discomfort  and 
disgrace  of  confinement. 

The  Penitentiary  was  a  subject  of  Livingston's  most 
intense  study.  He  obtained  copious  information  and  sta 
tistics  from  the  other  twenty-three  States,  as  well  as  from 
Europe,  and  minutely  examined  and  reviewed  the  whole 
history  of  the  systems  of  Massachusetts,  New  York,  and 
Pennsylvania.  He  approved  of  no  known  system,  though 
he  acknowledged  the  value  of  parts  of  several.  His  con- 


THE   LIVINGSTON    CODE. 

elusion  was,  that,  under  the  best  scheme  of  penal  juris 
prudence  to  be  devised,  the  inflexible  sentence  of  the 
law  upon  every  convict  of  a  penitentiary  offence  should 
be  confinement  in  a  solitary  cell,  with  sufficient  whole 
some  but  coarse  food,  but  without  occupation  or  any  hu 
man  attention,  except  needful  ministration  to  physical 
wants  and  private  religious  instruction.  And  this  dread 
ful  penalty  should  be  literally  enforced  against  all  who 
are  too  obstinately  depraved  to  accept,  after  a  time,  cer 
tain  mitigations  on  condition  of  good  behavior.  But  to 
those  who  might  learn  to  crave  occupation,  improved 
diet,  books,  and  some  taste  of  society,  and  who  at  the 
same  time  might  manifest  a  willingness  to  earn  these 
kinds  of  alleviation,  the  law  should  gradually  unfold  the 
following  inducements  to  perseverance  in  labor,  obedience, 
moral  conduct,  and  desire  of  reform,  namely:  — 

1.  A  better  diet. 

2.  Partial  relief  from  solitude,  and  the  means  of  edu 
cation  by  the  visits  and  lessons  of  a  teacher  of  the  prison. 

3.  Permission  to  read  books  of  general  instruction. 

4.  The  privilege  of  receiving  the  visits  of  friends  or 
relations  at  proper  periods. 

5.  Admission  into  a  class  for  instruction,  after  a  period 
of  good  conduct  that  shall  evince  a  sincere  desire  to  re 
form. 

6.  The    privilege,   after  a  long  probation,  of  laboring 
in  society. 

7.  A  proportion  of  the  proceeds  of  his  labor   on   his 
discharge  ;  and 

8.  A  certificate  of  good  conduct,  industry,  and  skill  in 
the  trade  he   has   learned  or  practised   in   prison,  which 
may    enable    him    to    regain    the    confidence    of    society. 
These  advantages,  to  be  gained  by  good  conduct,  should 
be  liable  to  suspension  and  forfeiture  for  idleness  or  ir- 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

regularity,  and  ought  to  be  dispensed  only  in  accordance 
with  severe  and  unbending  regulations. 

It  was  Livingston's  earnest  belief  that  such  a  gradual 
education  of  the  head  and  the  heart  of  the  confined  crim 
inal,  though  it  could  not  be  expected  to  produce  uniform 
reformation,  would  yet  cause  most  convicts  to  graduate 
from  the  penitentiary  with  softened  and  improved  charac 
ters,  and  often  work  a  total  reclamation  to  industry  and 
virtue.  These  opinions,  while  he  disclaimed  any  visions 
of  millennial  results  from  any  possible  system,  he  pressed 
upon  the  legislature  with  fervor  and  eloquence.  The 
following  paragraph  is  from  his  introductory  report  on 
this  subject :  — 

"  Let  it  not  be  said  that  this  is  a  theory  too  refined  to 
be  adapted  to  depraved  and  degraded  convicts.  Con 
victs  are  men.  The  most  depraved  and  degraded  are 
men;  their  minds  are  moved  by  the  same  springs  that 
give  activity  to  those  of  others ;  they  avoid  pain  with 
the  same  care,  and  pursue  pleasure  with  the  same  avid 
ity,  that  actuate  their  fellow-mortals.  It  is  the  false  di 
rection  only  of  these  great  motives  that  produces  the 
criminal  actions  which  they  prompt,  To  turn  them  into 
a  course  that  will  promote  the  true  happiness  of  the  in 
dividual,  by  making  them  cease  to  injure  that  of  society, 
should  be  the  great  object  of  penal  jurisprudence.  The 
error,  it  appears  to  me,  lies  in  considering  them  as  beings 
of  a  nature  so  inferior  as  to  be  incapable  of  elevation,  and 
so  bad  as  to  make  any  amelioration  impossible ;  but  crime 
is  the  effect  principally  of  intemperance,  idleness,  igno 
rance,  vicious  associations,  irreligion,  and  poverty,  —  not 
of  any  defective  natural  organization  ;  and  the  laws  which 
permit  the  unrestrained  and  continual  exercise  of  these 
causes  are  themselves  the  sources  of  those  excesses  which 
legislators,  to  cover  their  own  inattention  or  indolence 


THE   LIVINGSTON   CODE. 

or  ignorance,  impiously  and  falsely  ascribe  to  the  Su 
preme  Being,  as  if  he  had  created  man  incapable  of  re 
ceiving  the  impressions  of  good.  Let  us  try  the  experi 
ment,  before  we  pronounce  that  even  the  degraded  con 
vict  cannot  be  reclaimed.  It  has  never  yet  been  tried. 
Every  plan  hitherto  offered  is  manifestly  defective,  be 
cause  none  has  contemplated  a  complete  system,  and 
partial  remedies  never  can  succeed.  It  would  be  a  pre 
sumption,  of  which  the  reporter's  deep  sense  of  his  own 
incapacity  renders  him  incapable,  were  he  to  say  that  what 
he  offers  is  a  perfect  system,  or  to  think  that  it  will  pro 
duce  all  the  effects  which  might  be  expected  from  a  good 
one ;  but  he  may  be  permitted,  perhaps,  to  believe,  that 
the  principles  on  which  it  is  founded  are  not  discordant; 
that  it  has  a  unity  of  design,  and  embraces  a  greater  com 
bination  of  provisions,  all  tending  to  produce  the  same 
result,  than  any  that  has  yet  been  practised.  Whether 
these  principles  are  correct,  or  the  details  proper  to  en 
force  them,  the  superior  wisdom  of  the  legislature  must 
determine.  But  to  think  that  the  best  plan  which  human 
sagacity  could  devise  will  produce  reformation  in  every 
case,  that  there  will  not  be  numerous  exceptions  to  its 
general  effect,  would  be  to  indulge  the  visionary  belief 
of  a  moral  panacea,  applicable  to  all  vices  and  all  crimes ; 
and  although  this  would  be  quackery  in  legislation,  as 
absurd  as  any  that  has  appeared  in  medicine,  yet,  to  say 
that  there  are  no  general  rules  by  which  reformation  of 
the  mind  may  be  produced,  is  as  great  and  fatal  an  error 
as  to  assert  that  there  are  in  the  healing  art  no  useful 
rules  for  preserving  the  general  health  and  bodily  vigor 
of  the  patient." 

But  Livingston  perceived  and  felt  the  radical  danger 
that  all  the  reformation  which  might  be  achieved  by  the 
proposed  discipline  would  speedily  be  done  away,  if  no 


OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

provision  should  be  made  to  counteract  the  effect  of  the 
practical  outlawry  which  attaches  to  the  discharged  con 
vict,  and  prevents  him  from  procuring  honest  employ 
ment.  To  preclude  the  necessity  of  a  relapse  into  evil 
courses,  arising  from  inability  to  find  virtuous  society  and 
lawful  work,  the  doors  of  the  more  honorable  side  of  the 
House  of  Refuge  and  Industry  were  to  be  opened  to  re 
ceive  the  graduate  of  the  penitentiary  carrying  out  with 
him  a  certificate  of  good  conduct.  That  establishment 
was  to  have  two  departments,  one  for  voluntary,  the 
other  for  forced  labor.  In  the  former,  occupation  with 
compensation  was  to  be  given  to  those  able  and  desiring 
to  earn  their  livelihood,  but  lacking  employment.  The 
latter  was  to  be  a  receptacle  of  able-bodied  beggars  and 
wilful  vagrants,  and  to  it  all  such  were  to  be  consigned 
the  moment  of  being  detected  in  the  practice  of  their  vo 
cations.  Both  classes  of  inmates  were  to  receive  not  only 
the  hospitable  care  of  the  establishment,  but,  on  leaving  it, 
credentials  —  if  earned  —  attesting  their  good  conduct. 

One  other  establishment  —  the  School  of  Reform  — 
would  complete  the  proposed  penitentiary  system.  This 
was  designed  to  be  the  place  of  punishment  of  all  con 
victs  sentenced  while  under  eighteen  years  of  age  to  any 
term  of  imprisonment  less  than  for  life,  and  for  the  con 
finement  of  all  vagrants  committed  under  the  same  age. 
It  was  to  contain  separate  divisions  for  the  sexes,  a  sep 
arate  dormitory  for  each  prisoner,  courts  or  shops  for 
the  employment  of  the  inmates,  a  school-room  for  each 
division,  and  an  infirmary.  Every  inmate  was  to  be 
taught  some  mechanic  art,  and  either  persuaded  or 
forced  to  ply  it  industriously,  with  only  certain  inter 
missions,  appropriated  to  instruction,  to  meals,  to  relax 
ation,  and  to  rest.  A  competent  teacher  was  to  be  a 
part  of  the  establishment.  The  discipline  was  to  be 


THE   LIVINGSTON    CODE. 


273 


persuasive,  so   far  as    persuasion  would  serve,  but  coer 
cive  when  required  by  the  bad  conduct  of  those 

"  upon  whose  nature 
Nurture  can  never  stick." 

The  inmates  of  the  School  of  Reform  were  to  be  dis 
charged  only  on  the  expiration  of  their  terms  of  service, 
or  by  apprenticeship,  with  these  qualifications :  that,  not 
withstanding  the  expiration  of  a  term  of  service  prescribed 
in  a  sentence,  no  discharge  (except  by  apprenticeship) 
should  take  place  of  a  male  under  twenty-one,  nor  of  a 
female  under  nineteen  years  of  age ;  and  that  the  dis 
charge  by  apprenticeship  should  not  be  made  except  after 
two  years'  residence  in  the  institution,  and  a  certain  pro 
ficiency  in  elementary  education,  nor  without  a  written 
recommendation  of  the  apprentice,  signed  by  the  warden 
and  approved  by  the  inspectors. 

The  work  of  Livingston,  in  its  final  shape,  was  styled 
"A  System  of  Penal  Law,"  and  was  divided  into  a  Code 
of  Crimes  and  Punishments,  a  Code  of  Procedure,  a 
Code  of  Evidence,  and  a  Code  of  Reform  and  Prison 
Discipline,  besides  a  Book  of  Definitions.  Each  of  the 
codes  was  subdivided  into  titles,  chapters,  sections,  and 
articles,  with  headings,  distinguishing  their  subjects,  so 
as  to  make  easy  the  task  of  reference.  And  each  code 
was  prefaced  with  general  provisions,  in  the  form  of  en 
actments,  declaring  the  principles  and  purposes  control 
ling  the  legislature  in  promulgating  the  system. 

Every  part  of  the  work  evinces  the  most  elaborate  at 
tention  to  the  cardinal  objects  of  preserving  a  complete 
unity  of  design,  of  shunning  ambiguity  and  mystery,  of 
preventing,  rather  than  avenging  crime,  and  of  letting 
"  rnercy  season  justice." 

The  several  addresses  of  Mr.  Livingston  to  the  legis 
lature,  in  the  form  of  separate  introductions  to  his  sys- 

35 


LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

tern,  and  to  each  of  the  codes  embraced  in  it,  added  to 
the  first  report  of  his  plan,  would  fill  several  volumes  like 
this.  In  all  of  them  not  a  dull  sentence  can  be  found. 
Their  uniform  style  is  adapted  to  attract  a  popular  inter 
est,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  satisfy  a  critical  taste.  It 
makes  no  departures  from  dignity,  and  takes  to  itself  no 
stilts.  It  deals  in  plentiful  illustration,  and  even  orna 
ment,  but  abounds  in  directness  and  plain  force.  It  never 
lacks  the  strong  flow  of  a  full  stream.  These  produc 
tions,  if  their  author  had  left  no  other,  would  demonstrate 
that  America  has  not  produced  a  more  elegant,  more 
correct,  or  more  forcible  writer  of  the  English  language 
than  Edward  Livingston. 

The  legislature  of  Louisiana  has  not  acted  upon  this 
system  of  law,  prepared  by  its  authority,  upon  principles 
stamped  with  its  express  sanction.  The  progress  of  the 
work  brought  out  a  good  deal  of  opposition,  conservative, 
economical,  disputatious,  or  pragmatical.  All  this  would, 
possibly,  —  though  this  is  matter  of  much  doubt,  —  have 
yielded  before  the  author's  personal  influence,  if  he  had 
remained  at  home ;  but  his  destiny  took  him  to  Wash 
ington,  and  invited  him  to  a  second  political  career ;  he 
accepted  the  call,  and  ceased  practically  to  reside  in 
Louisiana. 

But  his  performance  did  not  meet  the  same  neglect 
from  the  world  at  large.  Its  publication  brought  him  im 
mediate  and  wide  fame.  Only  an  eminent  American  law 
yer  and  politician  before,  he  now  took  secure  rank  among 
the  philosophers  and  reformers  of  the  first  grade  in  all 
civilized  countries.  Many  of  his  separate  recommenda 
tions  have  been  adopted  by  various  legislatures,  not  only 
of  the  United  States,  but  of  other  nations,  both  Ameri 
can  and  European.  But  as  a  system,  upon  the  impor 
tance  of  whose  pervading  unity  and  central  vigor  he  placed 


THE    LIVINGSTON    CODE.  #75 

such  earnest  stress,  it  has  yet  to  be  tried  by  some  enter 
prising1  government,  desiring  beneficent  progress,  and 

willing  to  lead   the  world  in   the  march  of  reform.      Of 

o 

some  kind  of  advancement  in  penal  legislation  there  is 
still  everywhere  the  sorest  need.  A  great  deal  of  bar 
barism  characterizes  the  old  and  tenacious  abuses  which 
cling  to  the  administration  of  penal  justice :  in  the  blind 
adherence  to  arbitrary  technical  rules ;  in  the  reliance  upon 
uncertain  precedents  ;  in  the  ferocity  of  some  punishments, 
and  the  want  of  discrimination  among  others ;  in  the  de 
tention  of  witnesses ;  and  in  the  promiscuous  confinement 
of  the  young  and  the  old,  the  tender  and  the  hardened, 
the  innocent  and  the  guilty.  If,  in  the  progress  of  the 
world,  even  a  partial  remedy  for  these  chronic  abuses 
shall  be  found  in  some  system  substantially  like  that  of 
Livingston,  his  name  will  live  to  be  historically  and  per 
manently  associated  with  the  names  of  Bacon,  of  Montes 
quieu,  of  Beccaria,  and  of  Bentham. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 
THE   REPUTATION   OF   THE   CODE. 

TF  personal  ambition  had  been  Livingston's  principal 
motive,  in  the  patient  studies  and  labor  by  which  he 
produced  his  system  of  penal  law,  his  reward  would  have 
been  as  ample  as  it  was  prompt.  The  publication  of  his 
plan  gave  immediate  celebrity  to  his  name  in  America 
and  in  Europe.  It  was  reprinted  in  England,*  by  a 
stranger  to  the  author,  Dr.  Southwood  Smith,  and  at 
Paris,  in  the  French  version  of  Davezac,")"  elaborately 
edited  by  the  eminent  Taillandier.  German  reviewers 
reproduced  it  almost  in  full  in  their  notices.  The  "West 
minster  Review  "  closed  an  article  upon  the  London  edi 
tion  with  the  following  paragraph :  — 

"  We  cannot  conclude  this  notice  of  his  labors  with- 

*  Project  of  a  New  Penal  Code,  was  entirely  unacquainted  with  its 

etc.,  etc.  London,  1824.  sounds,  and  never  learned  to  compre- 

t  As  was  mentioned  in  the  pre-  hend  the  simplest  conversation  in 
ceding  chapter,  the  legislature  of  that  tongue.  It  was  chiefly  through 
Louisiana  required  that  the  projected  this  version  that  the  code  and  Mr. 
code  should  be  prepared  and  present-  Livingston's  various  explanatory  re 
ed  in  both  the  French  and  English  ports  became  known  upon  the  conti- 
languages,  a  requisition  which  was  nent  of  Europe.  The  French  crit- 
fulfilled.  The  French  version  was  ics  commended  the  general  purity  of 
a  translation  from  the  English  of  Liv-  its  style,  and  pointed  out  only  three 
ingston,  by  M.  Jules  Davezac,  an  or  four  instances  of  what  they  might 
uncle  of  Mrs.  Livingston,  a  learned  have  termed  "  Americanisms,"  — 
man,  and  president  of  the  first  college  the  use  of  words  in  senses  to  which 
established  at  New  Orleans.  In  this  in  France  they  were  not  applied,  as 
work  the  translator  evinced  a  singu-  "  commission"  for  "perpetration" 
larly  exact  comprehension  of  his  au-  "  acquit"  for  "  accomplisscment" 
thor's  meaning,  even  to  minute  and  and  "  instiguer"  for  "  exciter.'1'' 
technical  particulars.  What  made  With  these  reservations,  the  com- 
this  very  remarkable  was  the  fact  that  position  was  pronounced  to  be  a  mar- 
M.  Davezac  had  acquired  the  Eng-  vel  for  a  production  coming  from 
lish  as  one  acquires  a  dead  language,  the  Western  wilderness. 


THE   REPUTATION    OF   THE   CODE. 


277 


out  joining  our  feeble  voice  to  that  of  the  legislative  as 
sembly  for  which  he  is  preparing  this  code,  and  earnestly 
soliciting  Mr.  Livingston  to  prosecute  his  work  in  the 
spirit  of  this  report.  In  England,  the  eyes  of  its  most 
enlightened  philosophers,  of  its  best  statesmen,  and  of  its 
most  devoted  philanthropists  will  be  fixed  upon  him ;  and 
in  his  own  country,  his  name  will  be  had  '  in  everlasting 
remembrance,'  venerated  and  loved.  He  is  one  of  those 
extraordinary  individuals  whom  nature  has  gifted  with 
the  power,  and  whom  circumstances  have  afforded  the  op 
portunity,  of  shedding  true  glory  and  conferring  lasting 
happiness  on  his  country,  and  of  identifying  his  own 
name  with  the  freest  and  most  noble  and  most  perfect 
institutions."  * 

During  the  years  in  which  Mr.  Livingston  was  en 
gaged  in  twice  filling  up  the  body  of  the  work  of  which 
the  plan  presented  to  the  legislature  was  an  outline,  his 
opinions  upon  minor  questions  of  criminal  legislation 
were  looked  for  and  published,  as  soon  as  known,  by 
the  most  prominent  writers  upon  jurisprudence,  espe 
cially  in  Germany  and  France,  as  the  opinions  of  one 
of  the  foremost  publicists  of  the  world. 

When  the  work  was  at  length  completed  and  pub 
lished,  though  neglected  by  the  legislature  of  Louisiana, 
a  very  different  reception  awaited  it  from  the  general 
public,  at  home  and  abroad.  The  manner  in  which  the 
task  had  been  executed  universally  satisfied  the  high  ex 
pectations  which  had  been  formed  and  expressed  after 
the  publication  of  the  plan.  The  name  of  Livingston 
was  now  become  illustrious.  Victor  Hugo  wrote  to  him, 
"  You  will  be  numbered  among  the  men  of  this  age 
who  have  deserved  most  and  best  of  mankind."  f  Vil- 

*  Westminster  Reevieew  for  January,  1825. 
•)•  Vide  post,  p.  405. 


£78  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

lemain  declared  that  the  proposed  system  of  penal  law 
was  "  a  work  without  example  from  the  hand  of  any 
one  man."  *  Jeremy  Bentham  proposed  that  a  measure 
should  be  introduced  in  Parliament  to  print  the  whole 
work  for  the  use  of  the  English  nation,  j"  Taillandier 
wrote  :  "  The  moment  approaches  when  the  legislature 
of  Louisiana  will  discuss  the  proposed  codes,  prepared 
with  so  much  care  by  Mr.  Livingston  ;  we  hope  that  his 
principles  will  be  adopted,  and  that  State  endowed  with 
the  noblest  body  of  penal  laws  which  any  nation  has 
hitherto  possessed."  J 

It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  the  quotation  of  similar 
expressions,  by  writers  of  the  highest  authority,  illustra 
tive  of  the  reputation  and  influence  of  this  unenacted 
code.  But  let  it  suffice  to  mention  further  the  deliber 
ate  opinion,  recently  published,  of  an  English  author  § 
most  competent  to  pronounce  such  an  opinion,  that  Liv 
ingston  is  "  the  first  legal  genius  of  modern  times." 

The  new  law-giver  received  every  kind  of  evidence  of 
the  general  appreciation  in  which  his  labors  were  held. 
From  reviews  and  journals,  and  from  the  leading  con 
temporary  writers  upon  jurisprudence,  there  was  a  strong 
current  of  exalted,  almost  unqualified  praise.  Many  of 
the  most  prominent  statesmen  of  the  world  wrote  to  him 
in  terms  of  appreciative  commendation.  He  received 
autograph  letters  upon  the  subject  of  his  work  from  the 
Emperor  of  Russia  and  the  King  of  Sweden.  ||  The 

*  Vide  post,  p.  404.  ||  The  following  are  copies  of  these 

f  Bentham's  Works,  edited  by  Bow-     royal  letters  :  — 

ncyclopedia,     torn.  From  the  Em^eror  of  Russia' 


xliv.  pp.  214,  215.  "J'ai   ete,   Monsieur,   infiniment 

§  Dr.  H.  S.  Maine,  formerly  Pro-  sensible  a  la  lettre  que  vous  m'avez 

fcssor  of  Civil  Law  in  the  Universi-  ecrite.      Si    I'Empereur    Alexandre 

ty  of  Cambridge,  and  author  of  the  de  glorieuse  memoire  vivoit  encore, 

profound    work    on    Ancient    Law.  s'il  n'avait  £te  tout  a  coup  enleve  a 

For  the  expression  quoted  in  the  text  1'amour  et  aux  esp^rances  de  la  Rus- 

vide  Cambridge  Essays,  1856,  p.  17.  sie,  il  aurait,  j'en  suis  sur,  accueilli, 


THE   REPUTATION    OF   THE   CODE. 


279 


King  of  the  Netherlands  sent  him  a  gold  medal,  with 
a  eulogistic  inscription.  The  government  of  Guatemala 
translated  one  of  his  codes,  —  that  of  Reform  and  Prison 
Discipline,  —  and  adopted  it  word  for  word.*  In  his 
honor,  the  same  government  gave  to  a  new  city  and  dis 
trict,  forming  a  part  of  its  territory,  the  name  of  Liv 
ingston. 

When  the  exiled  Governor  of  Hungary,  Louis  Kossuth, 
released  from  the  imprisonment  at  Kutaiyeh,  was  enjoying 
in  this  country  the  hospitable  ovation  which  all  classes 
accorded  to  him,  he  was  entertained  at  a  public  dinner 
by  the  bar  of  the  city  of  New  York.  In  a  speech  which 
he  then  delivered  he  took  occasion  to  express  his  views 

avec    gratitude,    Timportant    travail  exprime    mes    remerciemens    et    de 

dont  vous  lui   destiniez   la  commu-  Tune  et  de  1'autre.     La  juste  rdputa- 

nication.     Heritier  de  ses  principes  tion    dont    vous   jouissez  parmi    vos 

et   de  ses  vues,  penetre  comme  lui  compatriotes    est    partagee    de   tous 

de  la  necessite  d'assurer  k  ma  patrie  ceux  qui  etudient  vos  ouvrages  ;  elle 

le  bienfait  d'un  code  de  loix  qui  lui  acquerra    de    nouveaux  eloges   chez 

manque,  je  m'empresse  de  vous  re-  nous  par  la  communication  que  j'ai 

mercier  et  pour  votre  lettre  et  pour  faite  de  votre  code    k  notre   cotnite 

1'ouvrage    qui    1'accompagnoit.     Un  des  loix.      La  tache   que  vous  vous 

de  mes  premiers  soins  a  ete  d'attacher  etes  imposee  est  digne  de  votre  phi- 

k  ma  personne  et  de  placer  en  quelque  lanthropie  et   de  vos  profondes  con- 

sorte  sous  mes  propres  yeux  la  com-  naissances.     Elle  doit  etre  appreciee 

mission    chargee    d'achever   Toeuvre  par   tous    ceux    qui    voient   dans   la 

entreprise  par  I'Empereur   Alexan-  clartd  et   les  principes  genereux   de 

dre.      Connaissant    vos    lumieres    et  la  legislation    une  nouvelle  garantie 

votre   instruction   profonde,  j'ai   fait  de    1'ordre   social    et    des    droits    de 

communiquer  aussitot  a  cette  com-  citoyen.      Continuez,    Monsieur,    a 

mission  les  projets  de  code  que  vous  remplir    cette    belle     et     honorable 

m'avez   transmis.      Elle  y   trouvera,  vocation ;    la  presqu'ile   Scandenave 

je  n'en  saurai  douter,  de  judicieuses  y   trouvera    un    motif  de  plus   pour 

idees,    d'utiles    materiaux,    et    c'est  resserrer  les  liens  de  confiance  et  de 

dans    cette    conviction    que  je    vous  bonne    harmonic   qui    subsistent 


otfre   ici,    Monsieur,   1'assurance    de 
ma  parfaite  estime. 

"  NICOLAS. 

"  Moscow,  le  31  Aout,  1826. 

"  M.  EDOUARD  LIVINGSTON." 

From  the  King  of  Sweden. 

"Monsieur  Livingston:  J'ai  re9u 
la  lettre  que  vous  m'avez  addressee 
ainsi  que  1'ouvrage  sur  la  legisla- 


heureusement  entre  elle  et  les  Etats 
Unis  du  Nord  de  1'Amerique. 

"  Je  saisis  avec  plaisir  cette  occa 
sion  pour  vous  exprimer,  Monsieur 
de  Livingston,  les  sentimens  avec  les- 
quels  je  suis 

"  Votre  affectionne 

"  CHARLES  JEAN. 
"  Christiana,  le  n  Aout,  1832." 


*  Cod i go  de  Reforma  y  Disciplina 

tion   quele    m  annonce  ;   c  est   avec     de  las  Prisiones.     Guatemala,  1834. 
une  veritable  satisfaction  que  je  vous 


280  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

upon  the  subject  of  codification,  and  began  by  saying 
that  America  had  "a  great  authority  for  codification, — 
Livingston."  Many  years  before  that,  the  name  of  the 
author  of  the  "  System  of  Penal  Law  for  the  State  of 
Louisiana "  had  become  one  of  three  or  four  American 
names  the  best  known  and  most  respected  in  Europe. 

At  home,  though  not  one  of  our  leading  jurists  or 
statesmen  kept  pace  with  Livingston's  ideas,  as  promul 
gated  in  his  proposed  code,  and  especially  with  his  scheme 
for  abolishing  the  penalty  of  death,  he  received  from  all 
sides  clear  proofs  of  a  proud  admiration  in  \vhich  he  was 
held  by  the  wisest  and  best  of  his  countrymen.  This  sen 
timent  was  expressed  to  him  directly  by  many  prominent 
men,  including  Kent,  Story,  Marshall,  Madison,  and  even 
Jefferson.  Chancellor  Kent  wrote  to  him  often  at  this 
period,  discussing  at  large,  and  with  warm  interest,  many 
of  the  details  of  the  new  work.  The  following  is  an 
extract  from  one  of  these  letters,  dated  in  February, 
1826:  — 

"  I  owe  every  obligation  to  you  for  your  continued 
friendship,  and  my  sense  of  your  talents  and  learning 
has  been  constantly  on  the  increase  from  1786  to  this 
day.  It  is  very  likely  I  shall  have  some  old-fashioned 
notions  and  prejudices  hoary  with  age  and  inflexible  from 
habit ;  but  I  am  determined  to  give  you  what  I  think, 
on  the  reading  of  all  the  work,  and  to  deal  out  my  praise 
and  censure  just  as  my  judgment  dictates. 

"  In  the  mean  time,  however,  and  before  the  war  has 
commenced,  and  while  the  chain  of  friendship  remains 
unbroken,  suffer  me  to  enjoy  the  parting,  lingering  rays 
of  an  amicable  intercourse,  and  to  assure  you,"  etc. 

And  a  later  communication  from  the  same  hand  con 
tains  the  following  paragraphs :  — 

"  Though  I  shall  always  be  dissatisfied  with  any  code 


THE   REPUTATION    OF   THE    CODE. 

that  strips  the  courts  of  their  common-law  powers  over 
contempts,  and  ceases  to  be  a  wholesome  terror  to  evil- 
minded  dispositions  by  the  total  banishment  of  the  axe, 
musket,  or  halter  from  its  punishments,  yet  I  admit  the 
spirit  of  the  age  is  against  me,  and  I  contentedly  ac 
quiesce. 

"  You  have  done  more  in  giving  precision,  specifica 
tion,  accuracy,  and  moderation  to  the  system  of  crimes 
and  punishments  than  any  other  legislator  of  the  age, 
and  your  name  will  go  down  to  posterity  with  distin 
guished  honor." 

But  perhaps  nothing  can  more  strikingly  illustrate  the 
position  which  Livingston  now  held  before  the  country 
and  the  world  than  the  fact,  that,  at  a  time  when  his 
debt  to  the  government  remained  wholly  unpaid,  and 
thus  while  the  original  cause  of  Jefferson's  prejudice 
against  him  was  still  outstanding  in  all  its  force, — a 
cause  which,  in  ordinary  circumstances,  would  have  in 
creased  its  fruits,  like  accumulations  of  interest,  —  the 
latter,  from  his  retirement  at  Monticello,  closed  a  long 
letter  to  him,  of  which  the  whole  will  be  given  at  a  sub 
sequent  page,  with  the  following  assurance  :  — 

"  Wishing  anxiously  that  your  great  work  may  obtain 
compleat  success,  and  become  an  example  for  the  imita 
tion  and  improvement  of  other  States,  I  pray  you  to  be 
assured  of  my  unabated  friendship  and  respect." 

And  in  the  same  letter  the  venerable  ex-President  said 
to  his  ancient  friend,  —  long  estranged,  as  we  have  seen, 
but  now  reconciled,  as  will  presently  appear,  —  "I  have 
attended  to  so  much  of  your  work  as  has  heretofore  been 
laid  before  the  public,  and  have  looked  with  some  attention 
also  into  what  you  have  now  sent  me.  It  will  certainly 
arrange  your  name  with  the  sages  of  antiquity." 
36 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

SIX    YEARS    IN    THE    HOUSE    AGAIN. 

Election  of  Mr.  Livingston  to  Congress  —  His  Position  in  the  House  — 
Speech   on    Roads  and  Canals  —  Letters  from  Jefferson  and  Du  Ponceau 

—  Intimacy  between  the  latter  and  Livingston — Letters  to  Du  Ponceau 

—  Completion  of  the  Livingston  Code — Destruction  of  the  Draught  — 
Energy  and  Fortitude  of  the  Author — Industry  in  reproducing  the  Code  — 
Letter  from  Webster  —  Speech  on  the  Bill  to  amend  the  Judicial  System, 
and  on  the  Equality  of  Rights  among  the  States  —  Vindication  of  Chan 
cellor  Livingston's  Services  in   the  Purchase  of  Louisiana  —  Close  Atten 
tion  of  Mr.  Livingston  to  the  Ordinary  Business  of  Legislation  —  Payment 
of  his  Debt  to  the  Government — Manners  and  Social  Habits  —  General 
Jackson  in  the  Senate  —  Growth  of  the  Intimacy  between  him  and    Liv 
ingston  —  A  Letter  from   the   General  —  Zealous  Support  of  him  for  the 
Presidency  by  Livingston  —  Public   Dinner  and  Speech  at    Harrisburg  — 
Defeat  of  Livingston  as  Candidate  for  Reelection  to  a  Fourth  Term  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  —  His  Election  to  the  Senate. 

~\T  7"HILE  Livingston  was  intently  occupied  in  his 
'  *  great  work,  his  name  was  brought  forward  by 
his  friends  as  a  candidate  for  the  post  of  Representative 
from  the  first  district  of  Louisiana  in  the  eighteenth  Con 
gress.  To  the  member  from  the  New  Orleans  district, 
especially  if  unanimously  chosen,  there  belonged  at  Wash 
ington  about  as  much  political  weight  as  if  he  were  one 
of  the  two  members  of  the  Senate  from  the  same  State. 
The  election  was  in  July,  1822,  and  as  no  opposition 
arose,  and  no  rival  candidate  appeared,  was  unanimous. 
He  was  afterwards  twice  reflected ;  so  that  he  sat  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  during  six  sessions,  beginning 
with  that  which  opened  in  December,  1823.  Thus,  after 
the  lapse  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  —  an  interval 


SIX   YEARS    IN   THE    HOUSE   AGAIN.  %$$ 

of  turmoil  deeply  colored  by  disappointment  and  afflic 
tion,  —  he  returned  to  the  chamber  in  which  his  tri 
umphs  as  a  young  statesman  and  Republican  orator 
had  been  achieved.  In  a  letter  to  his  friend  Du  Pon 
ceau  he  wrote :  — 

"  The  unanimous  voice  of  my  fellow-citizens  sends  me 
to  Congress,  where  I  very  much  fear,  however,  I  shall  be 
of  no  use.  So  long  retired  from  public  affairs,  I  am  an 
utter  stranger  to  the  politics  of  the  day,  and  my  old-fash 
ioned  Republican  ideas,  I  fear,  will  find  the  less  favor,  be 
cause,  so  far  from  being  weakened  by  my  age  and  ex 
perience,  they  every  day  acquire  new  force." 

The  position  of  Mr.  Livingston  in  the  House  was  now 
one  of  the  highest  and  truest  dignity.  His  reputation 
was  not  only  national,  but  was  just  becoming  something 
more.  He  was  past  the  ordinary  ambition  for  oratorical 
display,  but  zealous  in  the  discharge  of  all  the  duties  of 
a  member.  He  was  steadily  in  his  seat,  ready  to  speak 
to  all  questions  upon  which  he  thought  he  could  throw 
light,  watchful  of  the  special  interests  of  Louisiana,  and 
industrious  in  efforts  to  improve  the  Federal  laws.  Al 
though  such  men  as  Randolph,  Clay,  and  Webster  were 
members  of  the  House,  and  Van  Buren  and  Benton  were 
senators,  he  was  looked  upon  as  an  acquisition  of  the 
first  importance  in  the  national  legislature.  And  this 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  his  unhappy  debt  to  the  govern 
ment  was  not  yet  paid.  A  striking  proof  of  the  univer 
sality  of  the  respect  in  which  he  was  held  is  furnished  by 
the  following  letter,  which,  a  few  months  after  taking  his 
seat  in  the  House,  he  received  from  the  man  at  whose 
hands  he  had  suffered  the  largest  and  most  cruel  injuries, 
—  injuries  which  he  had  not  only  long  and  keenly  felt, 
but  had  eloquently  and  strenuously  denounced.  Jeffer 
son  was  now  within  two  vears  of  his  end,  retired,  strait- 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

ened  in  circumstances,  and,  as  to  active  political  influence, 
off  the  scene. 

"  Superfluous  lags  the  veteran  on  the  stage." 

It  was  in  these  circumstances  that  Livingston,  in  the 
prime  of  his  strength  and  with  rising  fortunes,  revived 
and  cherished  towards  his  old  adversary  the  sentiments 
of  his  youth,  and  paid  him  such  attentions  as  this  letter 
acknowledges.  How  different  would  have  been  the  feel 
ing  and  conduct  of  the  average  man  of  the  world,  —  not 
to  say,  of  the  average  Christian  gentleman !  It  is  plain 
that  if  in  this  instance  the  resentment  which  a  sense  of 
injustice  suffered  commonly  inspires  had  ever  found  a 
lodgment  in  his  breast,  no  trace  of  it  was  left  remaining 
there. 

"  Monticello,  April  4,   1824. 

"  DEAR  SIR  :  It  was  with  great  pleasure  I  learnt 
that  the  good  people  of  New  Orleans  had  restored  you 
again  to  the  councils  of  our  country.  I  did  not  doubt 
the  aid  it  would  bring  to  the  remains  of  our  old  school 
in  Congress,  in  which  your  early  labors  had  been  so  use 
ful.  You  will  find,  I  suppose,  on  revisiting  our  mari 
time  States,  the  names  of  things  more  changed  than  the 
things  themselves;  that  though  our  old  opponents  have 
given  up  their  appellation,  they  have  not,  in  assuming 
ours,  abandoned  their  views ;  and  that  they  are  as  strong 
nearly  as  ever  they  were.  These  cares,  however,  are  no 
longer  mine.  I  resign  myself  cheerfully  to  the  managers 
of  the  ship,  and  the  more  contentedly  as  I  am  near  the 
end  of  my  voyage.  I  have  learnt  to  be  less  confident  in 
the  conclusions  of  human  reason,  and  give  more  credit 
to  the  honesty  of  contrary  opinions.  The  radical  idea 
of  the  character  of  the  constitution  of  our  government 
which  I  have  adopted  as  a  key  in  cases  of  doubtful  con 
struction  is,  that  the  whole  field  of  government  is  di- 


SIX   YEARS    IN   THE    HOUSE    AGAIN. 

vided  into  two  departments,  Domestic  and  Foreign,  (the 
States  in  their  mutual  relations  being  of  the  latter) ;  that 
the  former  department  is  reserved  exclusively  to  the  re 
spective  States  within  their  own  limits,  and  the  latter  as 
signed  to  a  separate  set  of  functionaries,  constituting  what 
may  be  called  the  Foreign  branch,  which,  instead  of  a  fed 
eral  basis,  is  established  as  a  distinct  government  quoad  hoc, 
acting,  as  the  domestic  branch  does,  on  the  citizens  direct 
ly  and  coercively ;  that  these  departments  have  distinct 
directories,  coordinate  and  equally  independent  and  su 
preme,  each  within  its  own  sphere  of  action.  Whenever 
a  doubt  arises  to  which  of  these  branches  a  power  belongs, 
I  try  it  by  this  test.  I  recollect  no  cases  where  a  ques 
tion  simply  between  citizens  of  the  same  State  has  been 
transferred  to  the  Foreign  department,  except  that  of  in 
hibiting  tenders  but  of  metallic  money  and  ex  post  facto 
legislation.  The  causes  of  these  singularities  are  well 
remembered. 

"  I  thank  you  for  the  copy  of  your  speech  on  the  ques 
tion  of  national  improvement,  which  I  have  read  with 
great  pleasure,  and  recognize  in  it  those  powers  of  rea 
soning  and  persuasion  of  which  I  had  formerly  seen  from 
you  so  many  proofs.  Yet,  in  candor,  I  must  say  it  has 
not  removed,  in  my  mind,  all  the  difficulties  of  the  ques 
tion.  And  I  should  really  be  alarmed  at  a  difference  of 
opinion  with  you,  and  suspicious  of  my  own,  were  it  not 
that  I  have,  as  companions  in  sentiment,  the  Madisons, 
the  Monroes,  the  Randolphs,  the  Macons,  all  good  men 
and  true,  of  primitive  principles.  In  one  sentiment  of 
the  speech  I  particularly  concur  :  '  If  we  have  a  doubt 
relative  to  any  power,  we  ought  not  to  exercise  it.'  When 
we  consider  the  extensive  and  deep-seated  opposition  to 
this  assumption  ;  the  conviction  entertained  by  so  many 
that  this  deduction  of  powers  by  elaborate  construction 


286  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

prostrates  the  rights  reserved  to  the  States ;  the  difficul 
ties  with  which  it  will  rub  along  in  the  course  of  its  ex 
ercise  ;  that  changes  of  majorities  will  be  changing  the 
system  backwards  and  forwards,  so  that  no  undertaking 
under  it  will  be  safe ;  that  there  is  not  a  State  in  the 
Union  which  would  not  give  the  power  willingly  by  way 
of  amendment,  with  some  little  guard,  perhaps,  against 
abuse,  —  I  cannot  but  think  it  would  be  the  wisest  course 
to  ask  an  express  grant  of  the  power.  A  government 
held  together  by  the  bands  of  reason  only,  requires  much 
compromise  of  opinion,  that  things,  even  salutary,  should 
not  be  crammed  down  the  throats  of  dissenting  brethren, 
especially  when  they  may  be  put  into  a  form  to  be  willingly 
swallowed,  and  that  a  great  deal  of  indulgence  is  neces 
sary  to  strengthen  habits  of  harmony  and  fraternity.  In 
such  a  case,  it  seems  to  me  it  would  be  safer  and  wiser 
to  ask  an  express  grant  of  the  power.  This  would  ren 
der  its  exercise  smooth  and  acceptable  to  all,  and  insure 
to  it  all  the  facilities  which  the  States  could  contribute,  to 
prevent  that  kind  of  abuse  which  all  will  fear,  because 
all  know  it  is  so  much  practised  in  public  bodies,  I  mean 
the  bartering  of  votes.  It  would  reconcile  every  one,  if 
limited  by  the  proviso  that  the  federal  proportion  of  each 
State  should  be  expended  within  the  State.  With  this 
single  security  against  partiality  and  corrupt  bargaining, 
I  suppose  there  is  not  a  State,  perhaps  not  a  man  in  the 
Union,  who  would  not  consent  to  add  this  to  the  powers 
of  the  General  Government.  But  age  has  weaned  me 
from  questions  of  this  kind.  My  delight  is  now  in  the 
passive  occupation  of  reading ;  and  it  is  with  great  reluc 
tance  I  permit  my  mind  ever  to  encounter  subjects  of 
difficult  investigation.  You  have  many  years  yet  to 
come  of  vigorous  activity,  and  I  confidently  trust  they 
will  be  employed  in  cherishing  every  measure  which  may 


SIX   YEARS    IN    THE    HOUSE    AGAIN. 

foster  our  brotherly  union,  and  perpetuate  a  constitution 
of  government  destined  to  be  the  primitive  and  precious 
model  of  what  is  to  change  the  condition  of  man  over 
the  globe.  With  this  confidence  equally  strong  in  your 
powers  and  purposes,  I  pray  you  to  accept  the  assurance 
of  my  cordial  esteem  and  respect. 

"  THO.  JEFFERSON." 

The  speech  referred  to  in  the  above  letter  elicited  from 
others  a  warmer  degree  of  commendation  than  the  ven 
erable  ex-President  had  to  bestow  upon  it.  Du  Ponceau, 
the  publicist,  between  whom  and  Livingston  there  was 
a  close  and  life-long  intimacy,  wrote  to  him  from  Phila 
delphia  :  "  I  have  this  moment  read  in  the  '  National  In 
telligencer'  your  admirable  speech  on  roads  and  canals. 
I  have  never  seen  such  eloquence  in  a  Congressional  speech 
since  I  was  born.  I  am  delighted  with  it.  I  cannot 

o 

teh1  you  with  what  enthusiasm  I  dwell  on  every  word 
that  it  contains.  Could  you  not  lend  me  your  eloquence 
but  for  one  week  1  I  am  now  engaged  in  writing  a  dis 
sertation  on  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  jurisdiction  of. 
the  courts  of  the  United  States.  But  how  can  I  write 
after  you  I  I  wish  I  had  you  here  to  consult  on  my  fool 
ish  performance.  But  that  cannot  be.  I  must  invoke 
your  spirit,  and  try  to  catch  a  corner  of  your  mantle."* 
Du  Ponceau  was  a  friend  whose  head  as  well  as  whose 
heart  Livingston  always  highly  valued  and  greatly  de 
pended  upon.  He  had  been  one  of  his  counsel  in  the 
Batture  affair,  had  superintended  the  publication  of  his 

*  This  speech,  which  the  learned  a  constitutional  right  to  make  such 
Du  Ponceau  thought  a  model  of  elo-  roads  and  canals  as  are  necessary  and 
quence,  \vas  a  very  elaborate  dis-  proper  for  the  transportation  of  the 
course,  couched  in  Mr.  Livingston's  mail,  for  the  giving  facility  to  mili- 
best  style,  maintaining  earnestly  the  tary  operations,  and  to  the  corn- 
affirmative  of  the  question,  "  Has  mercial  intercourse  between  the 
the  government  of  the  United  States  States  ?  " 


288  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

final  pamphlet  on  that  subject,  had  had  the  paper  sub 
mitted  to  his  literary  judgment  as  well  as  professional 
approval,  and  had  been  freely  relied  upon  for  advice  in 
various  questions,  including  some  of  the  most  profound 
and  difficult  which  Livingston  encountered  in  the  prepa 
ration  of  his  system  of  penal  law.  In  May,  1821,  the 
latter  had  written  to  his  friend  thus  :  — 

"  Our  correspondence  is  something  like  that  of  the 
hero  of  a  fairy  tale  and  the  Genius  that  protects  him : 
the  talisman  is  never  resorted  to  but  when  there  is  great 
need  of  assistance.  Friendship  has  been  the  magic  word 
between  us  hitherto,  and,  though  I  have  never  used  it 
in  vain,  I  have  now  another  that  will  not  fail  to  command 
the  full  exercise  of  your  powers :  it  is  public  good.  Both 
are  combined  in  the  request  I  make,  that  you  will  read 
the  enclosed  and  let  me  have  your  advice  and  assistance 
in  executing  the  task  which  is  there  detailed. 

"  I  fear  I  have  greatly  overrated  my  powers  in  the 
undertaking;  but  the  die  is  now  thrown,  and  I  must 
execute  it  as  well  as  I  can.  My  present  impression  is 
strongly  against  the  retention  of  the  punishment  of  death. 
I  think  it  a  most  inefficient  punishment  in  any  case ;  it 
certainly  has  been  found  so  in  most.  Is  there  good  rea 
son  for  retaining  it  in  any  ]  Yet  in  all  the  States  it  is 
retained  for  murder.  Is  not  this  owing-  to  a  secret  at- 

C^ 

tachment  to  the  fanciful  lex  talionis,  or,  what  is  worse, 
to  a  vindictive  spirit  which  the  law  should  never  indulge. 
Let  me  have  your  sentiments  fully  on  this  point,  and  on 
the  utility,  or  rather  the  practicability,  of  reducing  into  a 
code  all  that  ought  to  be  enacted  under  the  head  of  crim 
inal  law. 

"  I  shall,  from  time  to  time,  rub  the  talisman,  and  call 
on  my  Genius  for  his  aid  in  extricating  me  from  the 
difficulties  in  which  my  imprudent  undertaking  has  in- 


SIX    YEARS    IN    THE    HOUSE    AGAIN. 

volved  me.  Remember  that,  in  all  the  records  of  fairy 
land,  there  is  no  instance  of  a  refusal  to  obey  the  word 
of  power." 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  to  Du  Ponceau  is  a 
specific  instance  of  Livingston's  method  in  searching  for 
light  while  endeavoring  to  frame  a  complete  system  of 
criminal  law.  The  result  of  the  particular  discussion  here 
elicited  shows  that  he  did  not  adopt  the  opinions  of  others 
without  being  well  convinced  of  their  soundness,  and  that 
his  own  judgment,  aided  by  all  the  light  he  could  get 
from  other  minds,  was  always  his  ultimate  dependence 
in  the  conclusions  he  promulgated.  The  answer  of  Du 
Ponceau  admitted  the  force  of  the  suggestion  as  to  the 
difficulty  of  framing  wise  laws  for  the  punishment  of  acts 
contra  bonos  mores,  but  advised  that  the  subject  could  not 
be  safely  passed  wholly  by,  and  that  the  French  code  fur 
nished,  in  substance,  the  best  provisions  to  be  made  on 
the  subject.  Nevertheless,  after  full  reflection,  Livingston 
adhered  to  his  original  impressions,  —  omitting  from  his 
system  altogether  the  whole  class  of  offences  against 
decency,  —  and  enforced  his  views  on  this  point  in  his 
address  to  the  legislature  with  perfect  conviction  and  con 
fidence. 

"  I  am  in  a  difficulty,  and,  as  it  is  one  arising  out  of  a 
question  of  jurisprudence,  I  know  no  one  to  whom  I 
can  apply  for  assistance  with  so  sure  a  hope  of  relief  as 
to  you. 

"  In  the  revision  of  my  criminal  code,  I  have  now  un 
der  consideration  the  chapter  of  offences  against  public 
morals.  This  is  intended  to  comprehend  all  that  class 
which  the  English  jurists  have  vaguely  designated  as 
offences  contra  bonos  mores^  finding  it  much  easier  in 
this,  as  they  do  in  many  other  cases,  to  give  a  Latin 
phrase  that  may  mean  anything,  rather  than  a  definition. 

37 


290 


LIFE   OF    EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 


"  I  have  serious  thoughts  of  omitting  it  altogether,  and 
leaving  the  whole  class  of  indecencies  to  the  correction 
of  public  opinion.  I  have  been  led  to  this  inclination  of 
mind  (for  as  yet  I  have  formed  no  decision)  from  an  ex 
amination  of  the  particular  acts  which  in  practice  have 
been  brought  under  the  purview  of  this  branch  of  crim 
inal  jurisprudence.  In  the  absence  of  anything  like  prin 
ciple  or  definition,  I  was  obliged  to  have  recourse  not  only 
to  precedent,  but  to  the  books  of  precedents ;  and  they 
strongly  reminded  me  of  some  forms  which  I  have  seen 
in  Catholic  church  books,  of  questions  which  are  to  be 
put  by  the  confessor  to  his  penitent,  in  which  every  abom 
ination  that  could  enter  into  the  imagination  of  a  monk 
is  detailed  in  order  to  keep  the  mind  of  a  girl  of  fifteen 
free  from  pollution.  Turn  to  any  indictment  of  this  kind 
in  the  books,  for  the  publication  of  obscene  prints  or 
books,  or  for  indecency  of  behavior,  and  you  will  find 
the  innuendoes  and  the  exposition  of  the  offence  infinitely 
more  indecorous,  more  open  violations  of  decency,  than 
any  of  the  works  they  are  intended  to  punish  and  repress. 
The  evidence  must  be  of  the  same  nature,  and  hundreds 
will  hear  the  trial  who  would  never  have  seen  the  book 
or  the  print.  This  evil  is  inevitable,  if  such  acts  are  pun 
ished  by  law. 

"  There  is  another,  of  no  less  magnitude,  arising  from 
the  difficulty  of  defining  the  offence.  Use  the  general 
expression  of  the  English  law,  and  a  fanatic  judge,  with 
a  like-minded  jury,  will  bring  every  harmless  levity  under 
the  lash  of  the  law.  Sculpture  and  painting  will  be  ban 
ished  for  their  nudities ;  poetry,  for  the  warmth  of  its 
descriptions  ;  and  music,  if  it  excites  any  forbidden  passion, 
will  scarcely  escape. 

"  On  the  whole,  I  am  surrounded  by  difficulties.  Help 
me  to  a  definition  that  shall  include  what  ought  to  be 


SIX  YEARS  IN   THE   HOUSE  AGAIN. 

punished,  and  not  give  room  for  the  abuse  I  have  pointed 
out.  Let  me  know  how  I  shall  decently  accuse  and  try 
a  man  for  indecency;  or  else  fortify  me  in  my  opinion 
of  letting  public  opinion  protect  public  morals." 

The  calamity  by  which  the  manuscript  of  the  Code,  the 
product  of  years  of  intense  labor,  was  annihilated  during 
the  night  after  its  completion,  has  been  already  men 
tioned.  This  happened  in  New  York,  at  the  house  No.  66 
Broadway,  where  Livingston  lodged  with  his  family  and 
worked  during  the  recess  of  Congress.  When  he  left 
Louisiana  for  Washington  the  task  was  nearly  done, 
and  required  for  its  completion  but  a  few  months'  appli 
cation.  The  first,  or  long  session  of  Congress  continued 
till  the  end  of  May,  1824<,  and  then  Livingston  devoted 
himself  wholly  to  the  work.  On  the  14th  of  November, 
of  the  same  year,  it  was  finished,  and,  as  I  have  said, 
destroyed.  He  announced  the  misfortune  to  Du  Ponceau 
— from  whom  he  had  lately  borrowed  a  volume  of  Ba 
con's  Works — in  the  following  terms:  — 

"  The  night  before  last,  I  wrote  you  an  apologetic 
letter,  accounting  for  not  having  before  that  time  thanked 
you  for  your  letter  and  your  book.  My  excuse  lay  before 
me,  in  four  Codes  :  of  Crimes  and  Punishments,  of  Crim 
inal  Procedure,  of  Prison  Discipline,  and  of  Evidence. 
This  was  about  one  o'clock  ;  I  retired  to  rest,  and  in 
about  three  hours  was  waked  by  the  cry  of  fire.  It 
had  broken  out  in  rny  writing-room,  and,  before  it  was 
discovered,  not  a  vestige  of  my  work  remained,  except 
about  fifty  or  sixty  pages  which  were  at  the  printer's, 
and  a  few  very  imperfect  notes  in  another  place.  You 
may  imagine,  for  you  are  an  author,  my  dismay  on  per 
ceiving  the  evidence  of  this  calamity;  for  circumstanced 
as  I  am,  it  is  a  real  one.  My  habits  for  some  years 
past,  however,  have  fortunately  inured  me  to  labor,  and 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD  LIVINGSTON. 

my  whole  life  has  to  disappointment  and  distress.  I 
therefore  bear  it  with  more  fortitude  than  I  otherwise 
should,  and,  instead  of  repining,  work  all  night  and  cor 
rect  the  proof  all  day,  to  repair  the  loss  and  get  the  work 
ready  hy  the  time  I  had  promised  it  to  the  legislature. 
In  a  preliminary  discourse,  which  I  intended  as  a  kind 
of  commentary  on  the  text  of  the  law,  I  had  made  sev 
eral  references  to  Bentham.  Having  the  volumes  be 
fore  me,  I  made  no  extracts ;  and,  the  books  being  also 
burned,  I  am  much  at  a  loss,  as  I  cannot  find  them  in 
any  library  or  book-store  in  this  city.  Will  you  do  me 
the  favor  to  buy,  borrow,  or  beg  them  for  me  ]  The 
works  I  allude  to  are  the  French  editions,  published  by 
Dumont:  'Principles  of  Legislation,'  3  vols. ;  'Theory 
of  Punishments,'  2  vols. ;  and  'Treatise  of  Judicial  Proof.' 
Mr.  Malenfant  will  be  good  enough,  if  you  can  procure 
them,  to  have  them  boxed  and  sent  by  the  Union  Trans 
portation  Line,  which  will  convey  them  safe  ;  and  if  you 
can  only  borrow  them,  I  will  carefully  bring  them  on 
with  me  when  I  come.  Your  little  book  escaped  the 
flames,  and  I  have  saved  your  Bacon,  though  not  my 
own.  I  make  no  apology  for  giving  you  this  trouble, 
because  I  know  you  will  not  think  it  one." 

This  fearful  disaster  did  not  ruffle  the  outward  seren 
ity  of  Livingston's  demeanor  in  the  least.  But  he  had 
much  to  do  to  soothe  his  wife  and  daughter,  who,  having 
watched  the  progress  of  the  work  with  a  lively  interest, 
were  thrown  by  its  sudden  destruction  into  the  keenest 
distress. 

Six  days  after  the  accident,  he  wrote  again  to  Du 
Ponceau  :  — 

"  I  thank  you  most  sincerely  for  your  kind  participa 
tion  in  my  calamity,  for  although  I  put  the  best  face  upon 
it,  I  cannot  help  feeling  it  as  such.  I  have  always  found 


SIX   YEARS   IN    THE    HOUSE    AGAIN.  £93 

occupation  the  best  remedy  for  distress  of  every  kind. 
The  great  difficulty  I  have  found  on  those  occasions  was 
to  rally  the  energies  of  the  mind,  so  as  to  bring  them  to 
undertake  it.  Here,  exertion  was  necessary  not  only  to 
enable  me  to  bear  the  misfortune,  but  to  repair  it ;  and  I 
therefore  did  not  lose  an  hour.  The  very  night  after 
the  accident  I  sat  up  until  three  o'clock,  with  a  deter 
mination  to  keep  pace  with  my  printer ;  hitherto  I  have 
succeeded,  and  he  has,  with  what  is  already  printed,  copy 
for  an  hundred  pages  of  the  penal  code.  I  find  my  rec 
ollection  strengthens  by  keeping  the  attention  fixed  on 
one  subject,  and  that  by  the  help  of  my  loose  notes,  which 
serve  as  jalons,  (have  we  any  English  word  for  this  V) 
I  find  my  old  route  easier  than  I  expected.  Next  week, 
about  Saturday,  I  will  send  you  the  penal  code ;  but  you 
cannot  judge  fairly  of  it  without  the  other  codes,  each  of 
which  elucidates  and  supplies  deficiencies  in  the  others. 
The  part  I  shall  find  most  difficult  to  replace  is  the  pre 
liminary  discourse,  of  which  I  have  not  a  single  note,  and 
with  which  (I  may  confide  it  to  your  friendly  ear)  I  was 
satisfied.  A  composition  of  that  kind  depends  so  much 
upon  the  feeling  of  the  moment  in  which  it  is  written, 
the  disposition  that  suggests  not  only  the  idea  but  the 
precise  word  that  is  proper  to  express  it  is  so  evanescent, 
(mine  at  least  are,)  that  it  will,  I  fear,  be  utterly  impossi 
ble  for  me  to  regain  it.  I  thank  you  again  for  the  pains 
you  have  taken  to  procure  the  books.  The  one  you  have 
been  so  fortunate  as  to  get  will  be  of  great  service  to 
me.  It  is  not  the  last  edition,  but  I  believe  there  is 
no  material  difference.  The  price  is  no  consideration  with 
me.  I  have  seen  the  notice  in  the  'National  Gazette.' 
It  is,  excepting  the  value  it  places  on  the  work,  precisely 
what  it  ought  to  be.  I  yesterday  had  a  long  conversation 
with  Chancellor  Kent ;  he  is  in  raptures  with  your  book. 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

I  have  laid  it  by,  that  I  may  enjoy  it  unmixed  with  the 
alloy  of  my  own  productions,  which  at  present  engross 
my  attention ;  and,  to  confess  the  truth,  I  read  just 
enough  to  convince  me  that  I  had  engaged  in  a  very 
presumptuous  undertaking,  and  was  afraid  to  read  more, 
lest  I  should  he  forced  to  confess  that  it  was  an  imprac 
ticable  one.  I  am  not  quite  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
the  proverb  that  tells  of  the  glory  of  failing  in  a  great 
attempt.  The  mortification  is  in  proportion  to  the  great 
ness  of  the  object  we  have  endeavored  to  attain ;  and  if 
glory  depends  upon  the  opinion  of  others,  that  very  sel 
dom  comes  in  to  comfort  the  unfortunate  man  who  has 
presumptuously  miscalculated  his  forces." 

Those  who  have  read  the  preliminary  discourse  above 
mentioned  will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  it  was  the  repro 
duction  of  a  performance  with  which  its  author  had  felt 
satisfied,  and  of  which  not  a  single  note  remained ;  and 
will  wonder  at  the  manner  of  its  accomplishment,  if  not 
at  the  fact,  that,  under  such  disheartening  circumstances, 
it  was  undertaken  at  all. 

In  the  preparation  of  his  penal  code,  Livingston  indus 
triously  sought  aid  from  the  opinions  of  all  those  whose 
judgment  he  respected.  To  a  request  which  he  made 
for  the  views  of  Jefferson,  the  latter,  nearly  at  the  close 
of  his  long  and  preeminently  useful  life,  wrote  the  follow 
ing  response :  — 

"  Monticello,  March  25,  1825. 

"  DEAR  SIR  :  I  know  how  apt  we  are  to  consider 
those  we  knew  long  ago,  and  have  not  since  seen,  to  be 
exactly  still  what  they  were  when  we  knew  them,  and 
to  have  been  stationary  in  body  and  mind,  as  they  have 
been  in  our  recollections.  Have  you  not  been  under  that 
illusion  with  respect  to  myself!  When  I  had  the  pleas 
ure  of  being  a  fellow-laborer  with  you  in  the  public  ser- 


SIX   YEARS    IN    THE    HOUSE    AGAIN. 

vice,  age  had  ripened,  but  not  yet  impaired,  whatever  of 
mind  I  had  at  any  time  possessed  ;  but  five-and-twenty 
chilling1  winters  have  since  rolled  over  my  head,  and 
whitened  every  hair  of  it.  Worn  down  by  time  in  bodily 
strength,  unable  to  walk  even  into  my  garden  without 
too  much  fatigue,  I  cannot  doubt  that  the  mind  has  also 
suffered  its  portion  of  decay.  If  reason  and  experience 
had  not  taught  me  this  law  of  nature,  my  own  conscious 
ness  is  a  sufficient  monitor,  and  warns  me  to  keep  in  mind 
the  golden  precept  of  Horace,  — 

*  Solve  senescentem  maturfc  sanies  equum,  ne 
Peccet  ad  extremum  ridendus.' 

I  am  not  equal,  dear  Sir,  to  the  task  you  have  proposed 
to  me.  To  examine  a  code  of  laws,  newly  reduced  to 
system  and  text,  to  weigh  their  bearings  on  each  other 
in  all  their  parts,  their  harmony  with  reason  and  nature, 
and  their  adaptation  to  the  habits  and  sentiments  of  those 
for  whom  they  are  prepared,  and  whom,  in  this  case,  I 
do  not  know,  is  a  task  far  above  what  I  am  now,  or 
perhaps  ever  was.  I  have  attended  to  so  much  of  your 
work  as  has  been  heretofore  laid  before  the  public,  and 
have  looked,  with  some  attention,  also,  into  what  you 
have  now  sent  me.  It  will  certainly  arrange  your  name 
with  the  sages  of  antiquity.  Time  and  changes  in  the 
condition  and  constitution  of  society  may  require  occa 
sional  and  corresponding  modifications.  One  single  ob 
ject,  if  your  provision  attains  it,  will  entitle  you  to  the 
endless  gratitude  of  society,  —  that  of  restraining  judges 
from  usurping  legislation ;  and  with  no  body  of  men  is 
this  restraint  more  wanting  than  with  the  judges  of  what 
is  commonly  called  our  General  Government,  but  what 
I  call  our  Foreign  department.  They  are  practising  on 
the  Constitution  by  inferences,  analogies,  and  sophisms, 
as  they  would  on  an  ordinary  law;  they  do  not  seem 


£96  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

aware  that  it  is  not  even  a  Constitution  formed  by  a 
single  authority,  and  suhject  to  a  single  superintendence 
and  control,  but  that  it  is  a  compact  of  many  indepen 
dent  powers,  every  single  one  of  which  claims  an  equal 
right  to  understand  it,  and  to  require  its  observance. 
However  strong  the  cord  of  compact  may  be,  there  is  a 
point  of  tension  at  which  it  will  break.  A  few  such 
doctrinal  decisions,  as  barefaced  as  that  of  the  Cohens, 
happening  to  bear  immediately  on  two  or  three  of  the 
large  States,  may  induce  them  to  join  in  arresting  the 
march  of  government,  and  in  arousing  the  co-States  to 
pay  some  attention  to  what  is  passing,  to  bring  back  the 
compact  to  its  original  principles,  or  to  modify  it  legit 
imately  by  the  express  consent  of  the  parties  themselves, 
and  not  by  the  usurpation  of  their  created  agents.  They 
imagine  they  can  lead  us  into  a  consolidated  government, 
while  their  road  leads  directly  to  its  dissolution.  This 
member  of  the  government  was  at  first  considered  as  the 
most  harmless  and  helpless  of  all  its  organs ;  but  it  has 
proved  that  the  power  of  declaring  what  the  law  is,  ad 
libitum,  by  sapping  and  mining,  slily  and  without  alarm, 
the  foundations  of  the  Constitution,  can  do  what  open 
force  would  not  dare  to  attempt.  I  have  not  observed 
whether,  in  your  code,  you  have  provided  against  caucus 
ing  judicial  decisions,  and  for  requiring  judges  to  give 
their  opinions  seriatim,  every  man  for  himself,  with  his 
reasons  and  authorities  at  large,  to  be  entered  of  record 
in  his  own  words.  A  regard  for  reputation  and  the 
judgment  of  the  world  may  sometimes  be  felt  where 
conscience  is  dormant,  or  indolence  inexcitable.  Experi 
ence  has  proved  that  impeachment  in  our  forms  is  com 
pletely  inefficient. 

"  I  am  pleased  with  the  style  and  diction  of  your  laws; 
plain  and  intelligible  as  the  ordinary  writings  of  common 


SIX    YEARS    IN    THE    HOUSE    AGAIN. 


297 


sense,  I  hope  it  will  produce  imitation.  Of  all  countries 
on  earth  of  which  I  have  any  knowledge,  the  style  of  the 
acts  of  the  British  Parliament  is  the  most  barbarous,  un 
couth,  and  unintelligible ;  it  can  be  understood  by  those 
alone  who  are  in  the  daily  habit  of  studying  such  tau- 
tologous,  involved,  and  parenthetical  jargon.  Where  they 
found  their  model  I  know  not ;  neither  ancient  nor  mod 
ern  codes,  nor  even  their  own  early  statutes,  furnish  any 
such  example;  and,  like  faithful  apes,  we  copy  it  faith 
fully. 

"  In  declining  the  undertaking  you  so  flatteringly  pro 
pose  to  me,  I  trust  you  will  see  but  an  approvable  caution 
for  the  age  of  fourscore  and  two,  to  avoid  exposing  itself 
before  the  public.  The  misfortune  of  a  weakened  mind 
is  an  insensibility  of  its  weakness.  Seven  years  ago,  in 
deed,  I  embarked  in  an  enterprise,  the  establishment  of 
an  University,  which  placed  me,  and  keeps  me  still,  under 
the  public  eye ;  the  call  was  imperious,  the  necessity  most 
urgent,  and  the  hazard  of  titubation  less  by  those  seven 
years,  than  it  now  is.  The  institution  has  at  length 
happily  advanced  to  completion,  and  has  started  under 
auspices  as  favorable  as  I  could  expect.  I  hope  it  will 
prove  a  blessing  to  my  own  State,  and  not  unuseful  per 
haps  to  some  others.  At  all  hazards,  and  secured  by 
the  aid  of  my  able  coadjutors,  I  shall  continue,  while 
I  am  in  being,  to  contribute  to  it  whatever  my  weak 
ened  and  weakening  powers  can ;  but  assuredly  it  is 
the  last  object  for  which  I  shall  obtrude  myself  on  the 
public  observation. 

"  Wishing  anxiously  that  your  great  work  may  obtain 
compleat  success,  and  become  an  example  for  the  imita 
tion  and  improvement  of  other  States,  I  pray  you  to  be 
assured  of  my  unabated  friendship  and  respect.- 

"  TIL  JEFFERSON." 

38 


£Q8  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

While  Livingston  was  engaged  in  restoring  the  Code, 
he  suffered  no  diversions,  either  of  pleasure,  politics,  or 
repose,  to  interrupt  his  work.  When  passing  some  weeks 
of  a  congressional  vacation  at  the  home  of  his  sister, 
Montgomery  Place,  he  said,  in  a  letter  to  Du  Ponceau  : 
"  Your  city  is  becoming  more  quiet,  I  hope,  after  your 
contested  election.  The  sound  of  these  commotions 
reaches  me  in  my  quiet  retreat,  but  it  does  not  disturb 
either  my  repose  or  my  attention  to  subjects  I  believe 
more  important,  but  certainly  better  suited  to  my  inclina 
tion,  and  perhaps  to  my  talent,  if  I  have  any."  On  being 
urged  by  Mr.  Webster  to  pay  the  latter  a  visit,  his  answer 
elicited  from  the  great  expounder  of  the  Constitution  the 
following  sample  of  ponderous  gayety :  — 


"  Boston,  Sept.  21,  1825. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  : 


"  You  cheer  us  with  the  possibility  of  a  visit,  but  again 
you  damp  us  by  calling  it  a  faint  hope.  I  can  only  ad 
monish  you,  that,  if  you  suffer  these  learned  labors  to  in 
duce  you  to  deprive  us  of  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you,  as 
they  have  hitherto  done,  I  shall  be  likely  to  be  an  enemy 
to  codes  all  my  life.  As  to  Mrs.  Webster,  I  believe  she 
has  decisively  made  up  her  mind  on  the  subject.  We  are 
determined,  however,  to  look  out  for  you  until  we  hear 
that  you  are  gone  South,  or  until  we  ourselves  move  off 
in  that  direction. 

"  I  am,  dear  Sir,  very  truly  yours, 

"DANL.  WEBSTER." 

While  Livingston  continued  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  but  few  occasions  arose  for  bringing  him 


SIX   YEARS    IN   THE   HOUSE    AGAIN. 


299 


out  upon  topics  of  general  and  permanent  interest.  The 
following  passage  —  forming  a  small  part  of  his  speech 
delivered  in  January,  1S26,  upon  a  bill  to  amend  the  judi 
cial  system  of  the  United  States  by  creating  new  circuits, 
to  embrace  the  States  then  lately  admitted  into  the  Union 
— exhibits  well  his  manner  in  addressing  the  House  at  this 
period.  Having  referred  to  the  history  of  the  several 
States  which,  after  admission,  had  been  for  any  time  left 
without  circuit  courts,  in  order  to  explain  the  circum 
stances  and  reasons  of  the  omission,  he  proceeds :  — 

"  The  first  moments  of  a  State  are  generally  devoted  to 
the  interesting  task  of  internal  organization.  The  ener 
gies  and  talents  of  the  new  State  are  directed  to  matters 
of  immediate  interest,  and  it  is,  therefore,  not  astonishing 
that  this  anomaly  should  not  earlier  have  attracted  atten 
tion.  Nor  can  the  neglect  be  considered  as  a  reproach,  far 
less  urged  as  an  abandonment  of  the  right.  The  time, 
however,  has  at  length  arrived,  when  the  six  States  in 
which  district  courts  only  are  now  established  demand  that 
they  should  be  placed  on  an  equality  with  the  other  mem 
bers  of  the  Union,  and  the  three  other  Western  States 
desire  such  a  modification  of  the  system  as  will  enable  the 
judges  of  the  circuit  court  to  despatch  the  accumulation  of 
business  which  obstructs  the  administration  of  justice. 
Why  do  the  six  States  require  this  ?  Why  do  we  desire 
to  be  placed  on  a  footing  with  the  other  States  ?  We  de 
sire  it,  Sir,  because  we  are  States  !  entitled  to  equality  !  the 
most  perfect  equality  with  the  oldest,  the  most  populous, 
the  most  influential,  the  best  represented  State  among  the 
first  thirteen  of  the  Union !  Rights,  privileges,  honors, 
burdens,  duties,  everything,  by  the  structure  of  our  govern 
ment,  must  be  participated  by  every  member  of  it,  on  the 
broadest  principle  of  equality.  I  would  not,  coming  as  I 
do  from  one  of  the  smallest  States  in  point  of  population, 


300  LJFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

—  I  could  not,  without  betraying  its  honor  and  dignity, — 
receive  in  its  behalf  even  an  exemption  from  any  duty, 
however  burdensome,  if  borne  by  the  other  States,  if  it 
were  conceded  as  a  badge  of  inferiority ;  I  should  be  dis 
avowed  by  those  who  sent  me,  and  justly  disavowed.  They 
ask  no  exemptions ;  but  they  demand  !  yes,  Sir,  that  is  the 
word, —  they  demand  an  equality  of  rights.  Inattentive 
to  this  right  when  it  was  not  disputed,  they  are  feelingly 
alive  to  it  when  their  claim  is  contested ;  and  in  their  be 
half  I  say,  with  Hotspur,  for  a  disputed  right,  — 

*  Mark  ye  me, 
I'll  cavil  on  the  ninth  part  of  a  hair.' 

"  But,  again,  why  do  we  desire  the  establishment  of  a 
circuit  instead  of  a  district  court  1  What  advantage  is 
to  be  derived  from  it  1  I  answer,  the  first  effect  will  be 
uniformity.  But  what  are  the  advantages,  says  the  gentle 
man  from  Virginia,  of  uniformity  ]  We  desire  it  simply 
because  it  is  uniformity.  If  the  circuit  system  be  an  ad 
vantage  to  the  States  in  which  it  is  established,  it  ought  to 
be  extended  to  us ;  for  we  are  entitled  to  every  political  ad 
vantage,  resulting  from  the  Union,  which  they  enjoy.  If 
it  be,  on  the  contrary,  a  burden,  it  is  one  of  which  we 
ought  to  support  our  share.  If  the  system  be  good,  ex 
tend  it;  if  it  be  bad,  abolish  it,  and  give  us  one  that  shall 
be  equal  in  its  operation.  We  cannot  extricate  ourselves 
from  this  dilemma,  while  we  acknowledge  what  nobody 
has  yet  ventured  to  deny,  in  words,  —  the  perfect  equality 
in  political  rights  in  the  several  States.  Uniformity,  says 
the  same  honorable  member,  can  only,  on  this  subject,  be 
desired  as  a  matter  of  State  pride  and  State  feeling.  Yes, 
Sir,  it  is  a  question  of  pride  and  feeling,  —  of  honest  pride 
and  dignified  feeling,  —  a  pride  that  ennobles,  a  feeling 
that  will  not  permit  us  to  suffer  wrong,  and  which,  when 
we  disregard,  we  lose  the  best  characteristics  of  freemen. 


SIX   YEARS    IN   THE    HOUSE   AGAIN.  SOI 

If  this    bill   had   no   one   object  of  profit,  convenience,  or 
utility,   in   the   ordinary  acceptation   of  those    terms  ;    if 
its  only  end  were  to  place   us   on   an   equality  with    the 
other  States,  in  a  circumstance  the  most  insignificant, — 
if  the  right  to  it  were  denied,  I  should    contend  for  that 
right   with    the    same    pertinacity.     Sir,  the   privilege  of 
being  covered  during  the  debates  of  this  House  is    one 
which  of  all   others  I  hold  to  be  the  most  worthless  ;  it  is 
one  of  which  I  do  not  frequently  avail  myself,  and  which, 
if  it  were  not  sanctioned  by  such  high  authority,  I  should 
think  somewhat  indecorous ;  yet,  Sir,  make  a  discrimina 
tion  in  this  paltry  privilege, — declare  that  none  but  the 
representatives  from  the  Atlantic  States  shall  be  covered, 
but  that  those  from  beyond  the  mountains  shall  enter  bare 
headed, — do  this,  I  will  not  ask  how  long  we  shall  stay 
here,  how  many  hats  will  be  seen  in  this  hall,  but  how 
many  heads  will  be  found  to  wear  them.     No,  Sir,  pride, 
founded  on  a  sense  of  dignity,  feeling,  originating  in  a 
sense  of  wrong,  ought  to  be  cherished  in  governments,  as 
in  individuals ;  lose  them,  and  patriotism  is  at  an  end,  and 
the  motive  to  glorious  actions  is  destroyed ;  for  the  pure 
virtue  that  does  not  need  their  aid   has  either  rrever  ap 
peared  upon  earth,  or  is  lost  in  the  degeneracy  of  modern 
times.     Direct  them  to  proper  objects,  but  do  not  reduce, 
or  endeavor  to  annihilate  them. 

"  But  is  this  a  mere  matter  of  pride  I  Important  as  its 
gratification  is  when  properly  directed,  is  that  the  ob 
ject  ?  There  are  real  disadvantages  attending  the  present 
state  of  things,  independent  of  the  injury  to  pride  of  opin 
ion  or  to  wounded  feelings  of  dignity.  There  is  risk  of 
fortune,  of  life,  of  reputation,  to  the  inhabitants  of  six  of 
the  Western  States,  which  is  not  incurred  by  those  of  the 
others.  We  have  seen  to  what  objects  the  powers  of  the 
Federal  judiciary  extend :  that  all  suits  in  which  an  alien 


302  LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

or  a  citizen  of  another  State  is  plaintiff  come  within  its 
scope ;  and  that  accusations  for  crimes  against  the  United 
States  are  to  be  decided  there.  Under  these  two  heads 
every  judicial  question  that  can  affect  property,  life,  liberty, 
or  reputation  may  be  comprehended. 

"  Now,  I  ask  gentlemen  who  oppose  this  bill  to  give  a 
deliberate  answer  —  if  they  deign  to  give  any,  I  am  sure 
it  will  be  a  candid  one  —  to  this  question :  whether  a  de 
fendant  who  has  these  all-important  concerns  depending 
upon  the  decision  of  a  single  district  judge,  not  always 
a  man  of  high  legal  talents,  (for  your  paltry  salaries  will 
not  command  them,)  without  the  fear  of  any  revision  of 
his  sentence,  and  remote  from  any  superintending  control, 
—  whether  a  defendant  so  circumstanced  can  be  said  to 
enjoy  equal  rights  with  him  who  cannot  suffer  either  pun 
ishment  or  loss  of  property  unless  the  decision  of  his 
district  judge  is  concurred  in  by  a  man  selected  from  the 
highest  talents  and  distinguished  for  his  integrity  and 
learning,  and  who,  in  every  case  of  a  doubtful  nature, 
even  when  they  concur,  may,  by  a  pro  forma  dissent,  have 
the  benefit  of  a  recurrence  to  the  assembled  wisdom  and 
justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Are  these  two  parties  on 
the  same  footing  I  Can  it  be  said,  with  the  semblance  of 
reason,  that  they  enjoy  the  same  rights  I  And  can  it  be 
said  that  a  State,  all  of  whose  citizens  are  subject  to  these 
disadvantages,  is  placed  on  an  equal  footing  with  other 
States,  whose  inhabitants  enjoy  the  privileges  I  have  enu 
merated  I  If  it  cannot,  the  question  is  at  an  end  ;  for  the 
terms  of  our  admission  are  express.  Each  of  the  new 
States  is  declared  '  to  be  one  of  the  United  States,  and 
admitted  into  the  Union  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  orig 
inal  States,  in  all  respects  whatever.'  Now,  Sir,  how  is 
this  stipulation  fulfilled,  if  the  property,  lives,  and  liberty 
of  our  citizens  are  subject  to  the  will  of  a  single  man, 


SIX    YEARS    IN  THE    HOUSE    AGAIN.  3Q3 

while  yours  can  suffer  in  neither  without  the  revision  of 
a  wise  and  enlightened  tribunal  I  But  we  have  an  appeal 
from  the  decision  of  the  district  judge ;  therefore  we 
have  no  right  to  complain  !  Error,  Sir  !  palpable  error  in 
fact,  as  well  as  fallacy  in  argument !  This  right  of  appeal 
is  limited,  in  cases  of  property,  to  those  above  two  thou 
sand  dollars  in  value.  But  in  many  instances  the  whole 
fortune  of  an  individual  does  not  exceed  that  sum.  In 
criminal  cases,  there  is  no  appeal.  It  is  not  only  property 
that  is  concerned,  but  liberty  and  life.  Both  may  depend 
on  the  construction  of  law.  No  innocence  can  protect  a 
man  from  accusation.  All  are  liable  to  be  dragged  before 
a  court.  My  life  may  depend  on  a  correct  or  false  in 
terpretation  of  a  statute  of  the  United  States.  It  is  sub 
mitted  to  a  district  judge.  He  decides  incorrectly  against 
me,  and  my  life  is  lost.  There  is  no  appeal  from  his  de 
cision,  though  he  may  be  the  man  the  least  qualified,  in 
the  district,  to  pronounce.  What  would  happen,  if  the 
case  were  tried  in  a  circuit,  not  in  a  district  court? 
First,  the  concurrence  of  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
in  the  opinion  of  the  district  judge  would  be  necessary. 
Secondly,  if  they  did  concur,  if  the  case  were  one  of  first 
impression,  a  pro  forma  dissent  would  be  entered,  and 
final  judgment  could  not  be  passed  until  the  question  had 
been  solemnly  debated,  and  the  sentence  had  received  the 
sanction  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Now,  I  again  ask  gen 
tlemen  to  say  whether  this  is  no  disadvantage.  Let  them 
meet  this  question  fairly,  and  either  give  a  satisfactory 
answer,  or  agree  to  remove  the  evil  by  according  to  us  a 
uniform  administration  of  justice." 

In  May  of  the  same  year,  a  debate  upon  the  bill  for 
the  relief  of  James  Monroe,  providing  for  payment  to 
the  ex-President  of  various  sums  for  services  while  in 
the  employment  of  the  government,  and  including  an 


304  LIFE  OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

allowance  for  salary  and  expenses  for  a  certain  period 
of  his  absence  on  the  mission  to  negotiate  the  purchase 
of  Louisiana,  —  there  being  opposition  to  the  bill,  and 
the  friends  of  Mr.  Monroe  showing  in  the  discussion  a 
perhaps  over-zealous  wish  to  make  the  most  of  the  part 
he  had  acted  in  the  negotiation, — afforded  Mr.  Living 
ston  an  opportunity  for  making  the  following  dignified 
and  conclusive  assertion  of  the  controlling  influence  and 
merit  of  his  departed  brother  in  that  most  important 
transaction :  — 

"  Sir :  while  I  feel  grateful  for  the  handsome,  and,  I 
hope  I  may  be  permitted  to  say,  the  merited  eulogium 
which  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  has  paid  to  the  char 
acter  of  my  deceased  brother,  I  must  not  omit  to  rectify 
one  error  into  which  the  gentleman  has  inadvertently 
fallen  in  stating  the  great  services  which  the  late  Pres 
ident  bad  rendered  to  his  country,  —  services  which  no 
one  appreciates  at  a  higher  rate  than  I  do,  and  in  the 
performance  of  which,  part  of  the  debt  which  we  are  now 
about  to  pay  was  incurred.  In  enumerating  these  ser 
vices,  the  gentleman  adverted  to  his  special  mission  for 
making  the  Louisiana  treaty,  and  stated  that  until  his 
arrival  the  resident  minister,  with  all  his  exertions,  had 
been  able  to  effect  nothing;  that  the  debts  due  to  our 
citizens  remained  unpaid ;  and  he  gives  us  to  understand 
that  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana  must  be  attributed  to 
the  exertions  and  diplomatic  skill  of  Mr.  Monroe.  Now, 
Sir,  with  the  most  sincere  desire  to  do  justice  to  the  im 
portant  services  that  gentleman  has  rendered  to  his  coun 
try,  and  with  the  greatest  reluctance  to  say  anything-  that 
might  seem  to  operate  against  the  bill  for  his  relief,  which 
I  shall  support  by  my  vote,  and  would  by  my  arguments, 
if  I  could  suggest  any  more  convincing  than  those  which 
have  been  so  ably  and  eloquently  urged  by  the  gentle- 


SIX    YEARS    IN   THE    HOUSE    AGAIN.  S05 

man  from  Virginia,  I  yet  have  a  duty  to  perform,  which 
obliges  me  to  give  to  the  House  some  account  of  the  state 
of  the  negotiation  with  France  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Mon 
roe's  arrival.  It  may,  besides  the  principal  object  I  have 
in  view,  be  interesting  as  an  historical  fact. 

"  The  statement  made  by  the  gentleman  from  Virginia 
of  the  hopeless  state  of  the  negotiation  is  perfectly  cor 
rect,  if  applied  to  a  time  somewhat  anterior  to  Mr.  Mon 
roe's  arrival.  An  indifference  to  our  complaints,  eva 
sions  of  the  clearest  claims  upon  their  justice,  inattention 
to  the  most  urgent  representations,  for  a  long  time  char 
acterized  the  conduct  of  the  French  cabinet.  Disgusted 
with  all  these  diplomatic  manoeuvres  of  the  ministers, 
Mr.  Livingston  resolved  on  a  bold  and  unusual  measure, 
the  expression  of  a  sincere  admiration  for  the  extraordi 
nary  man  who  was  then  at  the  head  of  the  government 
of  France,  a  prudent  resolve  to  have  no  political  connec 
tion  with,  and  to  give  no  countenance  to  any  party  there, 
more  particularly  to  that  which,  calling  itself  republican, 
naturally  looked  for  aid  from  the  minister  of  a  republic. 
An  established  reputation  for  honor  and  integrity,  and 
celebrity  as  a  man  of  literature  and  science,  had  given 
him  a  personal  influence  with  the  First  Consul,  of  which 
he  was  determined  to  try  the  extent.  He  had  studied 
his  character,  and  thought  that  if  he  could  enlist  the  mil 
itary  pride  and  love  of  fame  which  entered  so  largely  into 
the  formation  of  that  character  on  the  side  of  justice,, 
much  might  be  done.  Leaving,  therefore,  the  beaten 
route  of  official  notes  to  ministers,  he  addressed  the  prin 
cipal  himself.  He  made  a  short  and  plain,  but  forcible 
statement  of  the  claims  of  our  citizens ;  he  showed  the 
injustice  that  had  been  done  to  them;  he  adroitly  availed 
himself  of  the  national  interest  that  had  been  excited  in 
favor  of  France;  showed  the  value  of  the  supplies  (on 

39 


306  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

which  some  of  our  claims  were  founded)  to  her  colonies ; 
contrasted  the  confidence  and  good  faith  of  our  citizens 
with  the  rapacity  and  infidelity  to  engagements  with  which 
they  had  heen  treated,  and  the  anticipated  payment  of 
our  engagement  to  France  with  her  delays  and  refusal 
to  do  us  justice;  hinted  at  the  advantage  which  England 
might  make  of  the  unfriendly  disposition  which  such  con 
duct  was  calculated  to  excite  ;  and  concluded  with  a  short 
appeal  to  the  feelings  of  the  First  Consul,  on  those  points 
on  which  he  knew  he  could  most  sensibly  be  touched,  — 
his  personal  reputation,  the  dishonor  of  breaking  engage 
ments  he  himself  had  made,  the  reputation  to  be  acquired 
by  a  strict  performance  of  contracts,  and  the  necessity  of 
preserving  the  word  of  a  soldier  and  a  man  of  honor. 
After  urging  these  considerations  in  the  strongest  man 
ner,  it  was  suggested,  that,  if  the  embarrassments  of  the 
treasury,  naturally  resulting  from  a  long  and  expensive 
war,  just  then  closed,  and  the  prospect  of  its  renewal, 
should  render  the  payment  or  the  funding  of  the  debt  in 
convenient,  means  might  be  found  (evidently  pointing  to 
a  purchase  of  Louisiana)  which  would  not  only  satisfy 
our  claims,  but  relieve  some  of  the  exigencies  of  the  State. 
To  this  was  added  the  risk  of  losing  the  colony,  if  war, 
then  daily  expected,  should  again  break  out.  These  and 
other  considerations  were  strongly  urged  in  the  letter. 
This  address,  though  not  in  the  usual  course  of  diplomacy, 
was  well  received,  and  seems  to  have  had  the  effect  that 
was  expected ;  for  a  communication  was  immediately 
made  to  the  minister,  in  which  none  of  the  usual  evasions 
or  subterfuges  were  resorted  to  ;  it  contained  an  explicit 
promise  that  the  American  claims  should  be  honorably 
adjusted  and  speedily  paid.  To  prevent  speculation,  as 
well  as  to  create  an  additional  tie  on  the  French  govern 
ment,  Mr.  Livingston  immediately  gave  notice  to  the 


SIX    YEARS    IN    THE    HOUSE    AGAIN. 

agent  of  the  claimants  in  France  that  he  had  received  a 
promise  on  which  he  relied  for  their  payment,  and  at 
the  same  time  wrote  to  the  United  States,  giving  a  sim 
ilar  notice,  desiring  it  to  be  made  public,  and  advising 
the  creditors  not  to  part  with  their  debts.  This  was  in 
the  latter  part  of  February,  or  the  beginning  of  March. 
Mr.  Monroe  did  not  arrive  in  Paris  until  the  12th  of 
April  following.  After  this  promise  of  payment,  Mr. 
Livingston  did  not  cease  to  urge  its  fulfilment ;  and,  be 
sides  the  usual  and  obvious  arguments  contained  in  his 
former  notes,  he  stated  that  he  had  the  personal  engage 
ment  of  the  First  Consul,  on  which  he  had  so  much  relied 
that  he  had  committed  himself  to  his  countrymen  for  its 
punctual  performance ;  that  the  season  for  evasions  and 
delays  was  past ;  and  that  he  had  the  fullest  confidence 
in  the  honor  and  faith  that  had  been  pledged  for  doing 
justice  to  his  countrymen.  Thus  urged  for  the  perform 
ance  of  a  promise  which  he  himself  considered  as  an  hon 
orable  one,  but  without  the  means  of  performing  it  in  one 
way,  the  First  Consul  resolved  to  comply  with  it  in  the 
other,  that  had  been  suggested  by  the  minister ;  and  there 
is  the  strongest  reason  to  believe  that  a  resolution  to  sell 
was  taken  in  council  some  days  before  Mr.  Monroe  ar 
rived  in  France ;  but  what  is  certain  is,  that  the  day  be 
fore  his  arrival  in  Paris  the  cession  of  Louisiana  was 
proposed  to  Mr.  Livingston  by  Talleyrand.  Mr.  Liv 
ingston  had  then  heard,  either  that  Mr.  Monroe  had  ar 
rived  at  Havre,  or  was  hourly  expected,  with  powers  on 
that  subject,  and  of  course  declined  any  specific  answer 
until  he  should  arrive.  Talleyrand  then  pretended  that 
he  spoke  without  authority.  But  within  two  days  after, 
so  urgent  was  the  French  cabinet  to  conclude  the  sale, 
that  one  of  the  French  Ministry,  an  old  and  intimate 
friend  of  Mr.  Livingston,  called  on  him,  the  day  of  or 


308  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

the  day  after  Mr.  Monroe's  arrival,  but  before  he  had 
presented  his  credentials,  before  he  had  taken  or  could 
take  a  single  step  in  the  negotiation,  and  explicitly  offered, 
by  authority  of  the  First  Consul,  to  cede  the  province, 
for  a  sum  very  little  beyond  that  which  was  afterwards 
agreed  to  be  given  by  Mr.  Monroe  and  Mr.  Livingston. 
The  way  was  paved  for  this  important  acquisition  by 
official  notes,  indirect  communications,  and  printed  essays, 
showing  the  little  value  of  Louisiana  to  France,  the  ques 
tion  that  would  arise  with  the  United  States  relative  to 
the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  right  of  deposit 
secured  to  us  by  Spain,  and  the  certainty  of  its  conquest 
if  the  war  should  be  renewed  with  Great  Britain.  So 
that  when  Mr.  Monroe's  health  permitted  him,  after  his 
arrival,  to  take  part  in  the  negotiation,  everything  was 
done  but  fixing  the  price.  In  this,  he  cooperated  with 
Mr.  Livingston,  and  they  produced  a  diminution  from 
$12,000,000,  exclusive  of  our  own  claims,  to  $1,000,000, 
also  exclusive  of  those  claims.*  The  results  of  that  treaty 
have  been  most  beneficial  to  the  United  States.  The 
measures  and  arguments  which  led  to  it  have  frequently 

*  This  statement,  including  the  upon  himself,  nevertheless,  to  de- 
figures  in  the  text,  is  according  to  mand  the  sum  of  80,000,000  francs, 
the  report  of  Mr.  Livingston's  re-  To  this  demand  the  American  Min- 
marks,  in  the  annals  of  Congress,  isters,  Messrs.  Livingston  and  Mon- 
There  is  a  considerable  error,  either  roe,  soon  acceded,  only  asking  a 
in  the  report  or  in  Mr.  Livingston's  stipulation,  to  which  France  agreed, 
information  on  the  point  here  re-  that,  out  of  the  80,000,000,  the  Uni- 
ferred  to.  That  the  report  is  at  ted  States  should  reserve  20,000,000, 
fault  in  part  1  think  is  clear  from  the  to  be  applied  to  the  satisfaction  of 
fact  that  these  figures  contradict  what  claims  of  their  own  citizens  against 
the  speaker  had  said  a  few  sentences  France  under  the  Convention  of 
before.  The  following  is,  in  sub-  1800.  It  was  declared  by  the  treaty 
stance,  the  whole  history  of  the  ne-  that  five  and  one  third  francs  should 
gotiation,  as  to  the  price  of  Louisi-  equal  the  dollar  of  the  United  States, 
ana.  Napoleon  authorized  his  min-  So  that  the  sum  paid  directly  to 
ister,  Barbd-Marbois,  to  agree  to  cede  France  on  the  purchase  was  $n,- 
the  territory  to  the  United  States  for  250,000,  and  the  sum  reserved  to 
the  price  of  50,000,000  francs,  that  satisfy  the  claims  of  citizens  of  the 
sum,  and  no  other,  being  his  own  United  States  was  $3,750,000,  mak- 
suggestion.  Barbe-Marbois  took  it  ing  the  whole  price  §15,000,000. 


SIX    YEARS    IN    THE   HOUSE    AGAIN.  399 

been  detailed  to  me  by  my  deceased  relation.  He  fore 
saw  the  advantage  that  must  result  to  this  country  from 
the  acquisition,  and  he  felt  an  honest  pride  in  having  been 
instrumental  in  obtaining  it." 

No  young  politician  could  have  been  more  attentive  to 
the  ordinary  and  special  interests  of  his  constituents  than 
was  Livingston  at  this  period.  He  had  been  a  member 
of  the  House  but  four  days  when  he  introduced  a  measure, 
which  he  afterwards  pushed  till  it  was  carried  into  effect, 
for  the  erection  of  light-houses,  beacons,  buoys,  and  float 
ing  lights,  along  the  track  of  navigation  between  New 
York  and  New  Orleans ;  and  his  active  exertions  se 
cured  the  erection  of  new  and  splendid  Federal  build 
ings  at  the  latter  place.  He  consulted  not  less  the  wants 
and  habits  of  the  people  of  Louisiana  in  his  efforts, 
which  were  successful,  to  effect,  in  the  changes  of  the 
tariff,  the  imposition  of  additional  duties  upon  the  im 
portation  of  molasses,  and  a  reduction  of  the  duties  upon 
red  wines. 

At  the  same  time,  his  letters  and  political  writings 
show  that  he  felt  the  most  lively  interest  in  national 
works  and  projects,  as  internal  improvements,  the  great 
national  road,  and  the  scheme  of  uniting  the  two  oceans 
by  a  ship-canal,  cutting  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  But  that 
which  employed  his  labors  and  thoughts  more  than  all 
these  subjects  was  the  perfecting  and  restoring  of  his 
system  of  penal  law,  which,  after  its  completion  for 
Louisiana,  he  hoped  to  introduce  into  Congress,  with 
such  changes  as  would  adapt  it  to  the  use  of  the  United 
States.  For  this  reason,  principally,  he  wished  to  con 
tinue  a  Representative.  In  order  to  do  so,  it  was  neces 
sary  for  him  —  so  unskilfully  had  he  managed  his  pecu 
niary  affairs  —  to  undertake  some  practice  in  the  Supreme 
Court,  in  order  to  eke  out,  with  his  pay  as  a  member, 


310  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

an  income  sufficient  for  his  expenses.  To  such  profes 
sional  labor  he  devoted  himself  with  characteristic  cheer 
fulness  and  zeal. 

In  the  year  1 826  *  he  paid  his  long-standing  debt  to 
the  government,  with  its  accumulations  of  interest,  amount 
ing  then  to  a  sum  greater  than  the  principal.  This  was 
done  by  the  sale  of  property  to  the  government.  As  so 
poor  a  financier  was  not  likely  to  live  long  enough  to 
have  so  large  an  amount  of  money  by  him  at  one  time, 
it  was  well  that  this  method  of  closing  the  business  was 
thought  of.  Having  disentangled  from  the  Batture  liti 
gation  some  lots  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  to  which 
his  title  became  clear  and  no  longer  disputed,  he  offered 
them  to  the  Treasury  department  for  a  sum  covering 
the  precise  amount  due  upon  the  judgment  against  him, 
with  interest.  This  sum  was  $100,014.89.  The  ad 
ministration,  of  which  he  was  politically  an  opponent, 
after  consideration,  accepted  the  proposal,  took  the  prop 
erty,  and  discharged  the  debt.*("  The  government  made 
by  the  purchase  a  good  bargain ;  for  it  not  long  after 
wards  sold  the  lots  for  $106,208.08,  and  so  realized  a 
profit  from  the  transaction.  The  debtor  felt  his  relief 
profoundly,  but  not,  I  suppose,  with  so  keen  a  sense  as 
he  would  have  experienced  if  he  could  have  attained  it 
twenty  years  sooner. 

The  manners  and  social  habits  of  Livingston  were  un 
changed.  He  preserved  the  vigor  of  his  health  by  daily 
long  walks,  and  his  relish  for  society  by  free  intercourse 
with  his  friends  and  their  families.  His  powerful  con 
stitution  enabled  him  to  enjoy  heartily  a  social,  and  even 
a  convivial  dinner,  and  immediately  to  retire,  as  if  refreshed 

*  The  above  is  the  time  of  the  act-  t   This  arrangement   was  carried 

ual   satisfaction   of  the   debt.       The  out  through  the  machinery  of  a   sale 

formal   discharge  did  not   come  out  by   the    Marshal    on    an    execution, 

of  the  "  Circumlocution  Office"  till  the  United  States,  by  an  agent,  be- 

the  20th  of  August,  1829.  coming  the  purchaser. 


SIX   YEARS    IN    THE    HOUSE    AGAIN. 

and  strengthened,  to  spend  the  best  part  of  the  night  in 
the  deepest  studies.  These  lucubrations,  so  long  con 
tinued,  did  gradually  lead  him  into  occasional  habits  of 
abstraction  among  his  family  and  most  intimate  acquaint 
ances.  When  caught  in  these  absences  of  mind  by  the 
exposure  of  some  irrelevant  answer  on  his  part,  he  would 
laugh  heartily  and  loud.  In  the  genial  simplicity  of  his 
demeanor  he  seemed  unconscious  of  his  increasing  age, 
or  of  his  growing  reputation.  He  discussed  with  ani 
mation  the  most  ordinary  topics.  He  was  always  fond 
of  lively  conversation,  pun,  and  repartee  ;  but  spirit  rather 
than  wit  was  the  characteristic  of  his  own  share  in  such 
conversation.  Of  acrimony,  or  that  pungency  which  is 
akin  to  it,  he  was  incapable.  While  he  continued  a  rep 
resentative,  Josiah  S.  Johnston,  a  native  of  Kentucky, 
and  a  distinguished  and  able  man,  was  one  of  the  sen 
ators  in  Congress  from  Louisiana.  Livingston  and  he 
belonged  to  opposite  parties,  but  personally  were  on  terms 
of  great  intimacy  and  perfect  good-feeling.  While  the 
former  was  member  of  the  House,  one  of  the  terms  of 
the  senator  was  about  to  expire,  and  he  was  the  candi 
date  of  his  party  in  the  legislature  for  reelection.  The 
opposition,  in  Livingston's  absence,  voted  for,  and  near 
ly  succeeded  in  electing  him  senator  in  place  of  his  friend. 
One  evening,  while  the  result  of  the  election  was  looked 
for  at  Washingston,  Mr.  Livingston,  at  a  ball,  approached 
Mrs.  Johnston,  who  was  standing  in  a  set  ready  to  dance, 
and,  bowing  very  low,  said,  "  Madam,  I  congratulate 
you.  Your  husband  is  chosen  senator  for  six  years 
more."  The  lady  thanked  him  for  his  news  and  his 
gratulations.  He  lifted  his  finger  as  he  turned  to  leave 
her,  saying,  with  a  droll  mixture  of  mock  chagrin  and 
unmistakable  good-nature,  "  But  mind  you,  Madam,  it 
was  only  by  a  very  few  votes,  very  few  indeed." 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

At  the  same  time  that  Livingston  first  took  his  seat 
in  the  House  as  representative  from  Louisiana,  General 
Jackson  repaired  to  Washington  as  a  newly  chosen  senator 
from  Tennessee;  and  he  resided  there  until  his  resignation 
of  the  office  two  years  later.  We  have  seen  how  the  ac 
quaintance  between  Jackson  and  Livingston  had  begun,  in 
Congress  in  1796,  with  common  political  views  and  mutual 
respect ;  how,  after  the  lapse  of  many  years,  their  destinies 
had  brought  them  into  close  relations  with'  each  other 
in  the  memorable  defence  of  New  Orleans;  and  how  they 
had  worked  together  and  leaned  upon  each  other  through 
out  that  critical  and  glorious  campaign.  The  impressions 
which  they  had  then  left  upon  each  other  were  inefface 
able.  Livingston  had  clearly  discerned  in  the  General 
those  distinctive  qualities  which  at  length  became  so  fa 
miliar  to  all  the  world;  and  he  had  marked  him  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  while  Jackson  himself  had 
not  dreamed  of  his  own  fitness  for  such  an  office  till 
years  afterwards.  He  was  then  as  proud  of  the  General's 
friendship  and  confidence  as  at  any  later  period,  even  in 
the  zenith  of  the  latter's  popularity  and  world-wide  fame. 
After  parting,  in  1815,  they  had  written  to  each  other 
often,  and  on  every  occasion  of  any  importance  in  the  af 
fairs  of  either.  So  complete  was  their  intimacy  that  they 
had  taken  mutual  pleasure  in  executing  for  each  other  the 
most  ordinary  commissions.  In  1819,  Livingston,  wish 
ing  to  assist  a  friend  in  procuring  a  pair  of  matched 
horses,  had  consulted  General  Jackson  on  the  subject, 
who  was  delighted  to  get,  for  a  price  within  the  limit 
allowed,  "  the  only  pair  of  good  matched  horses  within 
his  knowledge,"  which,  after  purchasing,  he  would  not 
send  till  "  a  fair  experiment  could  be  made  with  them  in 
harness."  In  answer  to  an  apology  by  Livingston  for 
troubling  him  with  such  a  request,  he  had  replied,  "  I 


SIX  YEARS   IN    THE   HOUSE    AGAIN.  313 

regret  that  you  should  hesitate  to  command  me  in  any 
service  that  I  could  render  to  you  or  to  your  friends.  I 
never  shall  forget  the  aid  you  rendered  me  in  the  trying 
scenes  hefore  New  Orleans."  The  substance  of  this  ex 
pression  he  had  often,  and  on  almost  every  occasion,  re 
peated.  In  the  same  letter  from  which  it  is  quoted  he 
had  added,  "  I  thank  you  for  your  expressions  of  con 
gratulation  on  the  triumph  over  my  enemies  in  their  late 
wicked  attack  on  me.  These  were  the  real  enemies  of 
our  country ;  they  cared  not  how  deep  or  how  unmerited 
the  wound  they  gave  me,  provided  they  could  reach 
and  prostrate  the  administration,  and  exalt  themselves 
upon  its  ruin ;  but  *******  *?  *  *  *  *5  &  Co.  have 
prostrated  themselves ;  they  are  politically  fallen,  never 
to  rise  again.  This  is  justice;  for  when  men  abandon 
principle,  and  adopt  the  plan  of  elevating  themselves  upon 
the  downfall  of  others,  regardless  of  the  means  they  em 
ploy  to  obtain  their  object,  they  ought  and  ever  will 
tumble,  and  their  base  acts  recoil  upon  themselves.  I 
intend  tendering  to  the  Senate  an  answer  to  the  report 
of  their  committee,  with  the  necessary  documents,  which, 
I  trust,  will  show  their  wickedness  to  the  world.  I  wish 
that  you  had  the  documents,  or  that  I  could  wield  your 
pen."  In  December,  1816,  the  General,  becoming  some 
what  excited  by  what  he  thought  the  prospect  of  "  a  brush 
with  the  Dons,"  had  written  to  Livingston  that  he  hoped 
to  have  the  latter  with  him  in  case  of  a  campaign.  Early 
in  1823,  President  Monroe  had  tendered  to  General 
Jackson  the  post  of  Minister  to  Mexico,  which  the  lat 
ter  had  declined.  On  that  occasion  he  had  written  the 
following  letter  to  his  friend :  — 

"  Hermitage,  March  24,  1823. 

"My    DEAR    SIR:    On  the  receipt  of  your  letter  of 


314  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

the  25th  ult.  I  had  only  time  by  the  return  mail  to  ac 
knowledge  its  receipt,  and  say  to  you  that  on  the  subject 
of  the  mission  to  Mexico  I  had  not  been  consulted,  and 
that  I  had  declined  accepting  of  this  mission. 

"  It  was  a  just  deduction  of  my  friends  to  conclude 
that  I  had  been  consulted  before  my  nomination  to  the 
Senate,  and,  of  course,  that  I  would  accept  the  appoint 
ment  ;  and  many  of  them  may  conclude,  under  this  im 
pression,  that  I  am  very  fickle,  when  they  learn  that  I 
have  declined ;  for  this  reason,  I  have  thought  it  due  to 
you  that  you  should  be  informed  truly  on  this  subject, 
and  also  my  reasons  for  declining. 

"  The  first  I  heard  of  the  intention  of  the  President 
was  in  a  letter  from  Major  Eaton,  our  senator,  who  ad 
vised  me  that  Mr.  Monroe  had  sent  for  and  consulted 
him  upon  the  subject,  inquiring  his  opinion  whether  I 
would  accept,  to  which  the  Major  replied  that  he  could 
form  no  opinion  upon  the  subject.  Mr.  Monroe  ex 
pressing  a  wish  that  he  would  assure  me  of  his  friendly 
views  in  making  this  nomination,  I  immediately  an 
swered  that  I  would  not  accept ;  and  a  few  days  after 
this  answer  to  Major  Eaton,  I  received  Mr.  Monroe's 
letter  advising  me  of  his  nomination  and  the  approval 
of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  to  which  I  replied 
that  I  could  not  accept  for  the  reasons  following  in 
substance. 

"  The  present  unhappy  revolutionary  state  of  Mexico, 
with  an  oppressed  people  struggling  for  their  liberties 
against  an  Emperor  whom  they  have  branded  with  the 
epithets  usurper  and  tyrant,  convinces  me  that  no  min 
ister  from  the  United  States  would,  at  this  period,  effect 
any  beneficial  treaty  for  his  country,  and  of  the  impolicy 
of  a  republican  representative  at  a  court,  which  might  be 
construed  as  countenancing  the  empire  in  opposition  to  a 


SIX   YEARS   IN   THE   HOUSE   AGAIN. 

republic.  The  people  of  Mexico,  in  their  honest  efforts 
for  freedom,  command  my  warmest  sympathies ;  and  their 
success  is  intimately  connected  with  the  ultimate  and  gen 
eral  triumph  of  those  liberal  principles  for  which  our 
Revolutionary  worthies  fought  and  bled,  and  which  now 
form  the  pride  and  boast  of  United  America.  With 
these  feelings  and  wishes,  which  I  believe  to  be  general, 
and  in  unison  with  my  fellow-citizens,  I  did  believe  rny 
situation  at  Mexico  would  be  embarrassing  to  me,  inde 
pendent  of  the  conviction  that  I  was  rendering  no  ser 
vice  to  my  country,  when,  by  appearing  at  that  court, 
it  might  strengthen  the  tottering  crown  of  Iturbide,  and 
enable  the  tyrant  to  rivet  the  chains  of  despotism  upon 
his  country.  To  render  service  to  my  country  could 
alone  constitute  any  motive  for  again  acting  in  a  public 
capacity.  You  will  find  from  my  reasons  stated,  that 
in  consulting  my  own  feelings  I  have  not  been  un 
mindful  of  or  uninfluenced  by  considerations  connected 
with  the  best  interests  of  my  country,  which  I  trust  have 
heretofore  and  shall  always  govern  my  conduct.  Had 
the  affairs  of  Mexico  been  in  a  different  condition,  had 
the  voice  of  the  people  governed,  my  conclusion  would 
have  been  different ;  for  I  believe  it  the  true  principle  of 
our  government,  that  every  man's  services  belong  to  the 
nation  when  they  are  required  by  the  unsolicited  voice  of 
his  country;  and  the  appointment,  being  made  without 
consulting  me,  embraced  what  I  believe  ought  to  be  the 
governing  rule  of  the  President  in  making  his  nomina 
tions.  Had  I  accepted  this  mission,  it  would  have  been 
among  the  first  of  my  wishes  to  have  had  you  with  me. 
Should  I  ever  be  again  brought  by  the  unsolicited  call 
of  my  country  on  the  public  or  political  theatre,  I  should 
calculate  to  have  you  near  me;  but  on  such  an  event  I 
do  not  calculate.  I  am  no  intriguer.  I  would  not  act,  in 


316  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

one  single  instance,  that  character  for  all  the  public  favor 
that  could  be  bestowed.  My  country  has  brought  my 
name  before  the  American  nation,  and  the  people  must 
decide.  The  presidential  chair  is  a  situation  which  ought 
not  to  be  sought  for,  nor  ought  it  to  be  declined  when 
offered  by  the  unsolicited  voice  of  the  people.  To  their 
choice  the  Constitution  has  left  it,  and  happy  for  the  per 
manency  of  the  constitutional  government  and  the  perpet 
uation  of  our  Union,  if  designing  demagogues  will  let  the 
people  exercise  this,  their  constitutional  privilege,  without 
attempting  to  thwart  it  by  subtle  intrigue  and  manage 
ment. 

"  On  the  receipt  of  this,  if  leisure  permit,  I  would 
thank  you  for  your  views  of  the  correctness  of  my  de 
cision  and  the  ground  I  have  assumed  and  on  which  I 
have  always  practised,  and,  I  would  add,  I  have  grown 
too  old  in  the  practice  ever  to  change. 

"  Present  myself  and  Mrs.  J.  respectfully  to  your  lady 
and  daughter,  and  to  Major  Davezac,  and  accept  assur 
ances  of  my  friendship  and  esteem. 

"  ANDREW  JACKSON, 

"  EDWARD  LIVINGSTON,  Esq. 

"  P.  S.  I  have  not  had  leisure  to  read  your  report 
through.  As  far  as  I  have  gone,  I  approve  it  fully.  If 
the  penitentiary  system  can  be  established  to  meet  your 
views,  it  will  be  a  happy  amendment  to  the  criminal 
code,  and  the  name  of  E.  L.  will  be  handed  down  to 
posterity  as  the  greatest  legislator  of  his  day. 

"  A.  J." 

The  attachment  between  Jackson  and  Livingston,  so 
well  formed  and  so  long  cherished,  acquired  further 
strength  by  their  residence  together  at  Washington  from 
1823  to  1825.  The  latter  supported  his  friend  ardently 


SIX   YEARS    IN   THE    HOUSE    AGAIN. 

in  the  unsuccessful  presidential  campaign  of  1824,  and 
from  that  time  did  not  flag  in  the  zeal  or  activity  of  his 
exertions  until  the  more  fortunate  result  of  the  election 
in  18£8  was  achieved.  His  opportunities  for  knowing 
Jackson  being  generally  understood,  he  was  appealed  'to 
by  influential  politicians  from  different  parts  of  the  coun 
try,  to  say  whether  or  not  Jackson  was  an  ignorant  and 
passionate  man ;  whether  or  not  he  had  any  respect  for 
laws  or  constitutions ;  and  whether  it  was  true  or  not  that 
he  had  little  understanding,  or  that  he  had  not  received 
anything  that  could  be  called  education  ;  and  whether  or 
not  he  was  really  capable  of  writing  a  decent  letter.  He 
industriously  answered  these  inquiries,  detailing  and  ex 
plaining  the  General's  conduct  during  the  defence  of 
New  Orleans,  and  the  circumstances  of  the  declaration 
of  martial  law.  In  one  of  these  responses,  addressed 
to  Timothy  Pickering,  he  wrote,  referring  to  the  period 
of  the  campaign  :  "  During  this  time  I  enjoyed  his  con 
fidence,  which  I  should  esteem  it  one  of  the  greatest 
misfortunes  of  my  life  to  have  at  any  time  since  been 
deprived  of.  I  think,  therefore,  that  I  know  him  well. 
I  have  seen  him  in  circumstances  of  most  extraordinary 
difficulty,  amid  the  greatest  dangers  and  perplexities,  and 
in  the  hour  of  victory  and  triumph,  and  witnessed  the 
resources,  the  energy,  firmness,  courage,  and  moderation 
which  distinguished  his  whole  conduct  in  these  several 
situations, — conduct  always  adapted  to  the  occasion  which 
rendered  it  necessary,  without  the  slightest  attention  to  the 
effect  which  his  measures  might  have  upon  himself.  I 
am  not  writing  his  panegyric,  or  I  could  give  instances 
of  all  that  I  allege.  I  am  giving,  what  you  asked,  my 
honest  opinion." 

In    September,   1828,  whilst  the    presidential    canvass 
which    resulted   in  Jackson 's    first   election    was    raging, 


318  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

and  exciting  the  whole  country,  Mr.  Livingston  visited, 
on  a  purely  professional  errand,  the  city  of  Harrisburg, 
among  whose  inhabitants  he  had  not  a  single  acquaint 
ance.  He  was,  therefore,  surprised  to  receive,  as  soon 
as  his  arrival  was  known,  an  invitation  to  a  public  din 
ner  from  the  Democratic  leaders  in  the  city.  He  ac 
cepted  the  honor,  apparently  for  the  purpose  of  deliver 
ing  a  fervid  speech  in  the  support  of  Jackson.  The 
following  was  the  toast  to  which  the  speech  was  a 
response :  — 

"  The  Honorable  Edward  Livingston,  our  distinguished 
guest.  His  civil  attainments  adorn  the  records  of  his 
adopted  State,  and  his  military  services  at  Orleans  will 
remain  bright  on  the  page  of  history  as  long  as  that 
glorious  victory  is  remembered  by  freemen.  The  people 
of  Pennsylvania  hail  him  as  the  talented  advocate  of  the 
rights  of  man,  and  the  early  and  firm  friend  of  General 
Jackson." 

On  this  occasion,  Mr.  Livingston,  after  touching  upon 
the  distinctive  principles  of  the  Democratic  party,  spoke 
mainly,  with  great  feeling  and  power,  of  the  personal 
character  imparted  to  the  contest  by  the  opposers  of 
"a  man  whose  reputation  was  identified  with  that  of 
his  country,  the  measure  of  whose  glory  he  had  filled 
to  overflowing."  He  closed  the  reference  to  this  topic 
with  the  following  allusion :  — 

"  It  may  be  remarked,  to  the  honor  of  our  country, 
that  in  no  other  is  the  female  character  held  more  sacred. 
A  woman  may  travel  alone  from  one  extreme  of  the  Union 
to  the  other,  without  an  insult,  unprotected  but  by  her 
modesty  and  the  respectful  courtesy  that  is  paid  to  her 
sex  ;  and  everywhere  she  would  find  a  champion  to 
avenge  even  an  insulting  look.  Before  the  present  con 
test,  the  most  violent  zealot  of  a  party,  or  the  most  de- 


SIX   YEARS    IN   THE    HOUSE    AGAIN.  319 

graded  of  the  vile  tribe  who  prostitute  their  talents  to 
the  political  aggrandizement  of  others,  has  not  dared 
to  stain  the  pages  of  our  papers  with  the  remotest  allu 
sion  to  female  character.  It  was  reserved  for  this  con 
troversy  to  change  this  honorable  feature  in  the  char 
acter  of  our  country,  by  a  ruffian  attack  on  that  of  a 
meek,  pious,  charitable,  honorable  matron,  —  an  attack 
as  false  as  it  is  base  and  unmanly. 

"  Now,  Gentlemen,  examine  to  what  all  this  leads,  and 
say  whether  we  have  not  something  more  important  than 
the  mere  success  of  our  candidate  at  stake  on  this  elec 
tion.  If  these  means  prevail,  they  will  again  be  resorted 
to ;  they  will  be  met  by  similar  efforts  ;  that  candidate 
will  not  succeed  who  is  shown  to  be  best  suited  for  the 
station,  but  he  who  can  most  effectually  vilify  the  char 
acter  of  his  opponent,  and  of  those  who  support  his  pre 
tensions.  Men  of  respectability  will  withdraw  from  the 
degrading  contest,  both  as  principals  and  supporters ;  the 
vile  and  worthless  alone  will  fill  your  offices ;  and  men  of 
integrity  and  honor  will  be  drawn  to  seek,  under  hered 
itary  succession  to  office,  a  refuge  from  the  disorders  of 
a  democracy  thus  conducted. 

"  I  have  ventured  to  enlarge  upon  this  theme,  Gentle 
men,  partly  to  prove,  that,  if  we  wish  to  preserve  our  re 
publican  institutions  and  the  morals  of  our  people  from 
pollution,  it  is  necessary  to  strain  every  nerve  to  put 
down  this  first  attempt  upon  the  integrity  of  our  sys 
tem,  and  partly  because  the  expression  of  your  indig 
nation  and  contempt  of  these  unworthy  attacks  may  dis 
courage  any  attempt  by  our  friends  to  contend  with  the 
same  weapons.  Strong  in  the  character,  services,  and 
talents  of  the  men  we  support,  we  need  no  such  means ; 
and  we  disdain  them  even  if  they  were  necessary  to  suc 
cess. 


320  LIFE   OF  EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

"  No,  Gentlemen,  we  have  better  grounds  for  confi 
dence.  The  man  we  support  did  not  court  the  office 
which  the  voice  of  the  country  calls  him  to  fill.  To  Re 
publicans  in  Pennsylvania  I  need  not  repeat  the  many 
titles  he  has  to  their  support." 

The  following  was  the  conclusion  of  this  dis 
course  :  — 

"  For  my  own  part,  when  my  duty  required  me  to 
make  the  selection  between  the  two  candidates,  I  did 
not  hesitate,  —  not  from  any  dislike  to  Mr.  Adams,  for 
I  had  none,  —  on  the  contrary,  I  had  a  high  opinion  of  his 
talents,  and  believed  in  his  political  and  private  integrity, 
—  but  from  a  decided  preference  to  the  other  candidate, 
whose  qualities  I  thought  better  fitted  him  for  the  place. 
Nor  has  reflection  or  any  subsequent  event  changed  the 
opinion  I  had  then  formed.  I  first  knew  him  when  we 
were  members  of  the  same  House  of  Representatives, 
more  than  thirty  years  tigo  ;  and  he  then  inspired  me 
with  respect  for  the  firmness  of  his  character,  the  purity 
of  his  political  principles,  and  the  sound  understanding 
he  evinced  in  their  support.  From  that  time,  we  never 
met  until  he  was  called  to  conduct  the  defence  of  the 
city  in  which  I  lived.  In  his  conduct  of  that  defence 
he  developed  the  resources  of  a  mind  that  proclaimed  him 
equal  to  any  task  which  the  service  of  his  country  could 
require.  Energy,  combined  with  prudence ;  courage,  to 
face  not  only  the  dangers  of  the  field,  but  to  incur  the 
responsibility  of  every  measure,  however  unpopular,  that 
was  necessary  for  the  defence  of  the  country ;  stern  in 
tegrity  ;  the  most  disinterested  contempt  of  private  emol 
ument  ;  courtesy  of  manner  that  won  the  hearts  of  all 
who  approached  him,  and  that  commanded  the  admira 
tion  even  of  the  enemy,  in  his  epistolary  intercourse  ; 
and,  above  all,  a  respectful  submission  to  the  laws,  even 


SIX   YEARS    IN    THE    HOUSE    AGAIN. 

when  they  were  so  administered  as  to  impose  a  heavy 
penalty  for  acts  which  he  conceived  himself  forced  to  do 
for  the  preservation  of  those  laws.  These  qualities,  when 
your  public  affairs  are  placed  under  his  direction,  will  en 
able  him  to  conduct  them  with  wisdom  and  success.  He 
may  not,  perhaps,  with  the  dexterity  of  others,  twine  the 
cobweb  thread  of  diplomatic  sophistry ;  but  he  will  pur 
sue  the  interest  of  his  country,  in  its  foreign  relations,  in 
the  plain  path  which  honest  intentions  will  always  mark 
out,  disdaining  any  attempt  to  overreach,  with  too  much 
sagacity  to  be  himself  deceived,  and  with  a  firmness  that 
will  never  be  overawed.  This,  Gentlemen,  is  worth  all 
the  skill  in  diplomacy  of  which  we  have  heard  so  much, 
and  seen  so  few  beneficial  effects.  At  home,  he  will  per 
form  his  duty,  and  see  that  others  perform  theirs.  The 
seat  of  government  will  not,  at  stated  seasons,  be  deserted; 
nor  will  the  duties  of  all  the  departments  be  heaped  upon 
one  head.  All  this  we  have  a  right  to  expect  from  the 
character  of  the  candidate  we  support.  That  he  will 
be  chosen,  there  can  be  now  no  doubt.  Let  us  all 
endeavor  that  it  shall  be  by  so  triumphant  a  major 
ity  as  will  show  the  indignation  of  the  people  against 
the  foul  means  by  which  he,  and  his  country's  honor 
through  him,  have  been  assailed.  We  shall  then  avoid 
the  recurrence  of  the  disgraceful  scenes  that  now  sur 
round  us ;  we  shall  become  a  happy,  a  united,  a  repub 
lican  people  ;  and  although  we  shall  always  know  our 
parties  and  our  preferences,  they  will  not,  probably,  be 
attended  with  the  excesses  which  characterize  the  pres 
ent  contest,  —  for  the  event  will  have  proved  that  they 
are  useless,  as  well  as  unworthy  of  a  free  people. 

"  I  have  not  ventured  to  mix  in  the  important  topics 
upon  which  I  have  touched  any  individual  feeling.  I 
must  conclude  with  the  expression  of  that  with  which  my 


41 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

heart  is  filled,  gratitude  for  your  unexpected  and  highly 
flattering  attention,  and  the  hope  given  by  your  kindness, 
that  I  shall  leave  many  friends  where,  but  two  days  since, 
I  had  not  even  an  acquaintance.  I  offer  you,  Gentlemen, 
a  toast  analogous  to  the  sentiments  I  have  expressed, 
and  which  contains  an  opinion  I  honestly  and  conscien 
tiously  entertain :  — 

"  The  election  of  Andrew  Jackson.  It  will  establish 
our  honor  abroad,  insure  union  and  tranquillity  at  home, 
and  rescue  the  principles  of  our  government  from  defa 
mation." 

The  election  of  representative  in  the  next  Congress 
from  the  New  Orleans  district  had  already  taken  place, 
and  the  friends  of  Livingston  had  this  time  been  defeated. 
We  have  seen  that  his  first  election  had  been  unanimous. 
Two  years  later,  the  supporters  of  the  Federal  adminis 
tration  had  presented  a  party  candidate  against  him,  but 
with  a  not  encouraging  result.  A  third  time,  this  kind 
of  opposition  had  become  stronger ;  and  it  was  now  suc 
cessful.  The  length  of  time  required,  at  this  period,  to 
make  the  journey  between  Washington  and  New  Orleans, 
and  the  season  of  the  year  at  which  the  Congressional  va 
cation  occurs,  especially  in  each  alternate  year,  precluded 
the  members  from  Louisiana  from  often  seeing  their  con 
stituents.  Livingston  had  visited  home  but  once  during 
six  years.  This  continued  absence  —  though  excused 
by  the  circumstances  just  now  mentioned,  and  by  the 
fact,  that  during  one  long  vacation  he  had  been  detained 
by  duty  in  a  committee  charged  by  the  House  with  a 
most  important  investigation,  and  at  another  by  the  task 
of  prosecuting  the  claims  of  his  constituents  for  the  value 
of  slaves  carried  off  by  the  British  during  the  siege  of 
New  Orleans,  not  to  speak  of  the  repose  needed  for  his 
labors  upon  the  Code  —  was  wielded  effectually  by  the 


SIX   YEARS    IN    THE    HOUSE    AGAIN. 

politicians  who  desired  his  seat.  When  General  Jack 
son  heard  of  the  result,  he  wrote  to  his  friend,  under  date 
of  August  2,  1828:- 

"  I  sincerely  regret  to  hear  that  you  have  lost  your 
election.  I  was  fearful  of  this,  when  I  read  your  letter 
and  found  you  had  not  returned  to  New  Orleans.  Two 
speeches  to  your  constituents  would  have  given  you  a 
large  majority.  Your  absence,  combined  with  the  sys 
tem  of  detraction,  by  the  supporters  of  the  administra 
tion,  which  was  unsparingly  wielded  against  you,  gulled 
the  people,  and  defeated  your  election.  Your  friends  still 
think  they  will  be  able  to  elect  you  to  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States ;  but  unless  you  visit  New  Orleans  in 
the  fall,  you  will  be  beaten.  Your  enemies  have  wielded 
your  absence  against  you,  and  will  still  use  it  to  your 
injury.  You  must  visit  your  friends  this  fall  to  succeed, 
when  we  will  expect  to  see  you  as  you  pass,  with  your 
family,  at  the  Hermitage,  to  whom  present  Mrs.  J.  and 
my  salutations." 

Livingston  was  doubtless  well  aware,  whilst  the  can 
vass  was  pending,  that  by  attention  to  those  means  the 
neglect  of  which  is  here  regretted,  he  might  save  his 
election.  But  although  he  desired  to  retain  his  place, 
he  preferred  not  to  go  out  of  his  way  in  concessions  to 
the  popular  requirements.  He  issued  an  address  to  his 
constituents,  telling  them  the  plain  truth  of  the  matter, 
in  which,  after  referring  to  the  constancy  of  his  labors, 
he  added  :  "  Yet  this  great  personal  inconvenience,  this 
sacrifice  of  interest,  this  necessary  and  incessant  atten 
tion  to  the  duties  of  my  place,  have,  by.  the  inveterate 
spirit  of  party,  been  imputed  to  me  as  a  fault.  I  have, 
it  is  said,  treated  you  with  contempt,  by  not  abandoning 
the  duties  confided  to  me,  in  order  to  come  and  court 
your  favor.  I  would  have  been  more  worthy  of  con- 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD  LIVINGSTON. 

fidence,  according  to  these  wretched  scribblers,  if  I  had 
deserted  your  interests,  and  those  of  the  nation,  and 
regularly  come  on  to  solicit  your  votes."  But  this  man 
ner  of  reasoning  was  not  conclusive  with  the  majority  of 
those  to  whom  it  was  addressed ;  and  the  representative 
whom  they  had  at  first  chosen  with  a  unanimous  voice, 
who  had  served  them  with  zeal  and  advantage,  who  was 
willing  to  continue  in  their  service,  whose  character,  genius, 
and  fame  reflected  honor  upon  them,  and  whose  with- 
drawrnent  from  Congress  would  be  a  material  subtrac 
tion  from  the  dignity  of  that  body,  was  recalled  by  the 
votes  of  the  electors,  and  Edward  D.  White  was  re 
turned  in  his  place. 

The  legislature  of  Louisiana,  at  its  next  session,  elected 
Mr.  Livingston  a  Senator  of  the  United  States.  Whether, 
in  the  mean  time,  he  had  visited  New  Orleans,  in  accor 
dance  with  General  Jackson's  counsel,  or  had  taken  any 
steps  to  further  his  own  elevation,  or  not,  I  have  been 
unable  to  ascertain. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

SENATOR    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

The  Satisfaction  of  Livingston's  Ambition — His  Social  and  Domestic 
Habits  —  Letter  to  his  Daughter  —  Jackson's  Desire  to  employ  him  in 
the  Government  —  Offer  4>f  the  MissioiL:to4?-?ance —  Peculiar  Attractions 
of  the  Post  for  Livingston  —  Letters  from  Lafayette  —  N£ces&rty^e£- Declin 
ing  the  Mission  —  Appearance  in  the  Senate —  Speech  on  Foot's  Resolu 
tion  —  Correspondence  with  Bentham  —  Project  for  adapting  the  Liv 
ingston  Code  to  the  Use  of  the  Federal  Government  —  Senatorial  Inde 
pendence. 

LIVINGSTON  had  no  political  ambition  which  was 
not  now  entirely  satisfied.  The  promulgation  of 
his  system  of  penal  law  continued,  as  its  preparation  and 
restoration  had  long  done,  to  occupy  his  thoughts  and  to 
employ  his  industry,  far  more  than  did  his  official  labors 
or  any  plans  for  his  own  advancement.  But  not  all  this 
occupation  could  ever,  at  any  time,  engross  his  faculties, 
or  blunt  his  relish  for  constant  literary  culture,  for  genial 
society,  or,  above  all,  for  the  daily  pleasures  of  the  fire 
side  at  home.  From  his  wife  or  daughter  he  was  seldom, 
and  never  long,  separated.  When  absent,  he  invariably 
wrote  to  the  former  every  day;  and  the  latter,  whenever 
she  could  not  enjoy  his  conversation,  always  received  from 
him  the  best  possible  substitute.  Of  his  letters  to  her, 
the  following,  written  at  this  period,  is  a  characteristic 
passage :  — 

"  Have  you  never  a  poet  in  your  train  1  Here  is  a 
subject  for  one.  I  had  read  in  the  papers  that  the  great 
success  of  the  railroads  in  England  had  induced  the  own- 


326  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

ers  of  canals  to  turn  off  the  waters  from  them,  and  change 
them  into  roads.  I  imagined  the  water-nymphs  joining 
in  a  chorus  of  joy,  at  the  prospect  of  having  their  streams 
restored  to  their  natural  channels,  meandering  through 
flowery  meads,  dancing  gayly  over  sunny  pebbles,  leaping 
in  all  the  joy  of  nature  over  the  rocks  of  their  cascades, 
released  from  the  imprisonment  of  long,  rectilinear,  muddy 
canals,  where  they  were  forced  to  bear  the  burdens  of 
inevitable  barges  and  reduced  to  the  condition  of  dull 
stagnant  pools.  Instead  of  the  vulgar  slang  of  boatmen 
and  traders,  to  listen  to  the  fine  frenzies  of  the  poet  and 
the  lover  of  nature,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.  What  do  you  think 
of  the  cadre  ?  " 

Mr.  Livingston  became  a  Senator  on  the  same  day  that 
General  Jackson  entered  upon  the  Presidency.  The 
latter  at  once,  as  was  to  be  expected,  desired  to  employ  his 
friend  in  the  administration.  And  yet  he  had  in  his 
gift  no  place  for  which  the  senatorship  could  be  ex 
changed  as  a  clear  matter  of  advancement,  and  no  place 
the  duties  of  which  were  better  suited  to  the  tastes  of  the 
new  senator.  The  mission  to  France,  alone,  had  for  Liv 
ingston,  especially  at  that  moment,  some  attractive  features, 
which  might  have  induced  him  as  matter  of  choice  — 
though  not  without  hesitation  or  doubt  —  to  resign  his 
seat  in  the  Senate.  His  system  of  penal  law  had  already 
received  a  very  general  notice  and  admiration  from  the 
publicists  of  Europe,  and  especially  from  those  of 
France,  where  the  work  was  destined  shortly  to  procure 
for  him,  as  we  shall  see,  the  rare  honor  of  an  election 
to  membership  of  the  French  Institute.  He  had  never 
visited  Europe,  nor  seen  many  of  the  European  publicists 
with  whom  he  had  long  corresponded.  And  France  was 
the  home  of  one  of  the  oldest,  as  well  as  warmest  and 
most  constant,  of  his  personal  friends,  —  Lafayette.  The 


SENATOR  OF   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

venerable  Marquis  wrote  to  him,  under   date  of  March 
19,  1829:  — 

"  .  .  .  .  You  will  easily  believe  I  am  anxious  to  be  in 
formed  of  your  destination  in  the  new  presidential  ar 
rangements.  Are  you  a  member  of  the  Cabinet,  or,  as 
it  appears  our  excellent  friend,  Mr.  Brown,  contemplates 
to  return  home,  will  you,  in  that  case,  come  to  France 
as  a  minister  ]  How  pleasing  to  me  this  last  circum 
stance  would  be,  I  know  it  is  superfluous  to  express. 
Contrary  winds  keep  back  the  New  York  packets  ;  I 
hope  that  of  the  10th  of  March  may  have  a  better 
chance,  so  as  to  give  me  speedy  information  of  your  per 
sonal  situation.  The  death  of  poor  Mrs.  Jackson  has 
been  to  me  a  matter  of  much  grief.  She  was  particu 
larly  kind  to  me,  and  I  felt  for  her  much  esteem  and 
affection 

"  Present  my  best  respects  to  the  President.  My 
children  join  in  my  own  and  George's  anticipations  to 
welcome  you  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  I  am,  with 
all  my  heart, 

"  Your  affectionate  friend, 

"  LAFAYETTE." 

On  the  16th  of  April,  Lafayette  wrote  to  Livingston 
again  on  this  subject :  — 

"  MY  DEAR  FRIEND:  The  packet  of  the  10th  being 
the  last  we  have  received,  and  Mr.  Van  Buren's  Secre 
taryship  of  State  having  been  announced,  I  had  antici 
pated  the  pleasure  to  see  you  and  family  in  France,  as 
Plenipotentiary  Minister.  Our  friend,  and  very  justly 
regretted,  Mr.  Brown,  has  thought  it  necessary,  owing 
to  Mrs.  Brown's  state  of  health,  to  return  home,  and 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

knowing  your  intimacy  with  the  President,  and  his  ex 
perienced  confidence  in  you,  I  was  assured  that  the  ap 
pointment  greatly  depended  upon  you  ;  nor  did  I  think 
that  you  should  find  in  Mrs.  Livingston,  Cora,  and 
our  friend  Davezac,  great  objection  to  your  accepting  a 
mission  to  France.  Further  information,  by  way  of 
Liverpool,  discourages  my  hope  to  welcome  you  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  so  that  I  write  these  few  lines,  which 
yet  may  pass  you  as  we  past  each  other  on  the  western 
waters  about  four  years  ago. 

"  The  session  will  keep  me  in  town  until  the  end  of 
June.  My  son  and  colleague  begs  to  be  affectionately 
and  respectfully  remembered.  Le  Vasseur  has  been, 
since  the  beginning  of  the  year,  settled  in  his  library  es 
tablishment.  You  know  he  contemplates  writing  some 
thing  on  our  American  delightful  tour.  But  he  felt 
the  impropriety  of  such  a  publication  in  the  so  intimate 
situation  he  did  occupy  near  the  principal  object  of  the 
related  events ;  nor  would  I  take  any  cognizance  of  his 
manuscript,  thereby  avoiding  not  only  the  participation 
in  flattering  remarks,  but  also  the  responsibility  of  omis 
sions  relative  to  facts  and  names,  which,  although  en 
graved  in  my  heart,  might  have  extended  his  observa 
tions  or  the  bounds  of  his  book.  So  that  if  it  comes  out, 
I  shall  then  read  it  for  the  first  time. 

"  Although  I  have  ever  thought  it  a  matter  of  pro 
priety,  situated  as  I  am,  not  to  meddle  either  with  party 
disputes  or  individual  appointments,  I  will  tell  you  con 
fidentially,  as  your  old  friend,  and  also  as  a  friend  to  Gen 
eral  Jackson,  that  a  rumor  of  numerous  changes  has  ex 
cited  some  uneasiness  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic 

Indeed,  American  situations  on  this  side  of  the  ocean  are 
well  filled.  What  arrangements  the  President  will  make 


SENATOR  OF  THE  UNITED    STATES. 

I  do  not  know,  nor  do  I  mean  to  intrude  myself  in  any 
interference.  But  as  public  concerns  are  going  on  \\ell, 
I  think,  between  you  and  me,  that  wherever  he  means  no 
change,  private  uneasiness  ought  to  be  relieved. 

"  Adieu,  my  dear  Edward ;  present  my  affectionate 
respects  to  Mrs.  Livingston  and  Cora.  Remember  me 
to  Davezac  and  other  friends  wherever  you  are,  and  be 
lieve  me  forever, 

"  Your  affectionate  friend, 

"  LAFAYETTE." 

It  was  a  correct  surmise,  that  the  mission  to  France 
was  the  office  which  the  President  designed  for  Living 
ston.  There  was  a  most  important  and  delicate  errand 
to  be  committed  to  the  minister,  namely,  to  obtain  from 
the  French  government  a  tardy  indemnity  for  the  spolia 
tions  which  had  been  committed  upon  American  vessels, 
under  authority  of  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  of  Napo 
leon.  This  was  one  of  the  subjects  that  received  Jack 
son's  earliest  official  attention,  and  he  thought  Livingston 
the  best  agent  he  could  send  for  the  accomplishment  of 
the  purpose  in  view.  Upon  him  accordingly  this  office 
was  pressed,  during  the  first  month  of  the  administration, 
-  the  period  of  the  above  letters  from  Lafayette.  Thus 
solicited,  Livingston  inclined,  on  the  whole,  though  with 
some  reluctance  and  misgiving,  to  accept  the  mission. 
But  being  in  the  month  of  April  urged  by  the  Presi 
dent  to  accept  immediately  and  depart  soon,  he  was 
obliged  to  decline  the  post,  because  some  circumstances 
in  his  private  affairs  constrained  him  to  stay  at  home  till 
October.  Such  a  delay  was  too  long  for  the  views  of 
General  Jackson,  and  Mr.  Rives,  of  Virginia,  was  sent 
to  the  French  Court.  In  December  following,  Mr.  Liv 
ingston  first  appeared  in  the  Senate.  Of  his  late  asso- 

42 


330  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

ciates  in  the  House,  Mr.  Webster  had  preceded,  and  Mr. 
Clay  soon  followed  him. 

Mr.  Livingston  made  but  few  set  speeches  in  the  Sen 
ate.  No  senator  was  listened  to  with  more  profound 
respect  than  he,  whenever  he  spoke ;  but  mere  oratory 
he  now  left,  for  the  most  part,  to  others.  His  most 
elaborate  speech  was  his  first,  delivered  on  the  15th  of 
March,  1830,  occupying  the  whole  day,  and  covering 
about  sixty  printed  pages  in  the  report.  It  was  part 
of  the  memorable  debate  upon  Foot's  resolution,  raising 
the  question  of  the  true  policy  of  the  government  with 
respect  to  the  public  lands,  and  best  known  as  the  oc 
casion  of  the  celebrated  oration  of  Webster,  in  reply  to 
Mr.  Hayne,  on  the  rights  of  the  States,  and  the  nature, 
interest,  and  glory  of  the  Federal  Union.  It  was  a  most 
discursive  debate,  a  fact  to  which  Mr.  Livingston,  on 
rising  to  speak,  referred  in  the  following  humorous 
strain  :  — 

"  The  multiplicity  and  nature  of  the  subjects  that  have 
been  considered  in  debating  a  resolution  with  which  none 
of  them  seem  to  have  the  slightest  connection,  and  the 
addition  of  new  subjects  by  which  every  speaker  has 
thought  it  proper  to  increase  the  former  stock,  has  given 
me,  I  confess,  some  uneasiness.  I  feared  an  irruption 
of  the  Cherokees,  and  was  not  without  apprehensions 
that  we  should  be  called  on  to  terminate  the  question  of 
Sunday  mails ;  or,  if  the  Anti-Masonic  Convention  should 
take  offence  at  the  secrecy  of  our  executive  session,  or 
insist  on  the  expulsion  of  all  the  initiated  from  our  coun 
cils,  that  we  should  be  obliged  to  contend  with  them  for 
our  seats.  Indeed,  I  had  myself  serious  thoughts  of  in 
troducing  the  reformation  of  our  National  code,  and  a  plan 
for  the  gradual  increase  of  the  navy,  and  am  not  yet 
quite  decided  whether,  before  I  sit  down,  I  shall  not  urge 


SENATOR   OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  331 

the  abolition  of  capital  punishments.     In  truth,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  the  whole  brought   forcibly  to  my  recollection   an 
anecdote  told  in  one  of  the   numerous   memoirs   written 
during  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  too  trivial,  perhaps,  to 
be  introduced  into  this  grave  debate,  but  which,  perhaps, 
may  be  excused.     A  young  lady  had   been   educated  in 
all  the  learning  of  the  times,  and  her  progress  had  been 
so  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  princess  who  had  di 
rected   her    studies,   that,   on   her    first   introduction,   her 
patroness  used  to  address  her  thus:  'Come,  Mademoiselle! 
discourse  with  these  ladies  and  gentlemen  on  the  subject 
of  theology ;  so,  that  will  do.     Now  talk  of  geography ; 
after  that,  you  will  converse  on  the  subjects  of  astronomy 
and  metaphysics,  and  then  give  your  ideas  on  logic  and 
the  belles-lettres.'     And  thus  the  poor  girl,  to  her  great 
annoyance,    and    the    greater   of  her    auditors,    was    put 
through   the   whole   circle  of  the   sciences   in  which   she 
had   been   instructed.      Sir,   might  not  a  hearer   of  our 
debates  for  some  days  past  have  concluded  that  we,  too, 
had  been  directed  in   a   similar  way,  and   that  you   had 
said  to   each  of  the  speakers,   '  Sir,   please  to  rise   and 
speak  on  the  disposition  of  the  public  lands ;   after  that, 
you  may  talk  of  the  tariff;  let  us  know  all  you  think  on 
the  subject  of  internal  improvement ;  and,  before  you  sit 
down,  discuss  the  powers  of  the  Senate  in  relation  to  ap 
pointments,  and  the  right  of  a  State  to  recede  from  the 
Union  ;  and  finish  by  letting  us  know  whether  you  ap 
prove  or  oppose  the,  measures  of  the  present,  or  the  six 
preceding  administrations'?'     The   approximation,  Sir,  of 
so    many    heterogeneous    materials   for    discussion    must 
provoke  a  smile ;  and  most  of  those  who  have  addressed 
you,  while  they  lamented  that  subjects  unconnected  with 
the   resolution   had    been    introduced   into   debate,   rarely 
sat  down  without  adding  to  the  number.     For  my  own 


332  LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

part,  I  think  the  discussion  may  be  turned  to  useful  pur 
poses.  It  may,  by  the  interchange  of  opinion,  increase 
our  own  information  on  all  the  important  points  which 
have  been  examined,  while,  not  being  called  on  for  a  vote, 
we  may  weigh  them  at  leisure,  and  come  to  a  conclusion, 
without  being  influenced  by  the  warmth  of  debate." 

Nevertheless  the  speaker  proceeded  to  follow  in  some 
degree  the  general  example  of  digression,  and  to  discourse 
upon  some  topics  not  immediately  relevant  to  the  point 
of  Mr.  Foot's  resolution,  though  confining  himself  strictly 
to  responding  to  what  had  fallen  from  others  in  the  course 
of  the  discussion.  One  of  these  digressions  was  the  fol 
lowing  very  full  and  thorough  vindication  of  himself  and 
his  colleagues,  including  General  Jackson,  for  their  vote, 
mentioned  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  this  volume,  against  the 
address  of  Congress  to  Washington,  as  prepared  and 
insisted  upon  by  the  Federalist  majority  of  the  time :  — 

"  I  have  given  you,  Sir,  so  much  of  the  history  and 
state  of  parties  as  was  necessary  for  the  understanding 
of  the  refutation  I  must  make  of  a  charge  brought 
against  me  and  those  with  whom  it  was  my  happiness 
to  associate,  and  will  always  be  my  pride  to  have  acted, 
m  those  times.  I  repeat  the  charge,  verbatim,  from 
the  printed  speech  of  the  senator  from  Massachusetts 
(Mr.  Webster).  Speaking  of  the  merits  of  New  Eng 
land,  which  I,  at  least,  have  never  attempted  to  lessen, 
he  says  he  '  will  not  rake  into  the  rubbish  of  by-gone 
times  to  blot  the  escutcheon  of  any  State,  any  party,  or 
any  part  of  the  country ; '  yet,  Sir,  in  the  same  page, 
he  endeavors  to  fix  a  blot  of  the  blackest  ingratitude 
on  a  party,  on  men  (I  do  not  speak,  Sir,  of  myself) 
who  have  rendered  most  important  services  to  the  coun 
try,  to  one  of  whom  it  has  given  the  highest  mark  of  its 
confidence  and  esteem,  and  all  of  whom  were,  in  the 


SENATOR    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.          333 

transaction  alluded  to,  much  more  sinned  against  than 
sinning-.  The  honorable  gentleman  goes  on  to  say : 
'  General  Washington's  administration  was  steadily  and 
zealously  maintained,  as  we  all  know,  by  Ne\v  Eng 
land.  It  was  violently  opposed  elsewhere.  We  know 
in  what  quarter  he  had  most  earnest,  constant,  and 
persevering  support  in  all  his  great  and  leading  meas 
ures.  WTe  know  where  his  private  and  personal  char 
acter  was  held  in  the  highest  degree  of  attachment  and 
veneration ;  and  we  know,  too,  where  his  measures  were 
opposed,  his  services  slighted,  and  his  character  vilified. 
We  know,  or  we  might  know,  if  we  turn  to  the  journals, 
who  expressed  respect,  gratitude,  and  regret,  when  he 
retired  from  the  chief  magistracy,  and  who  refused  to 
express  respect,  gratitude,  or  regret;  I  shall  not  open 
these  journals.' 

"  Sir,  the  honorable  gentleman  would  have  done  well 
to  open  the  journals,  or  not  to  have  referred  to  them. 
If  he  had  opened  them,  he  would  have  found  the  name 
of  the  individual  who  addresses  you  arrayed  with  those 
of  men  more  worthy  of  note,  in  the  vote  to  which  he 
alludes.  If  he  had  opened  the  debates  which  led  to  that 
vote,  as  I  think  he  ought  to  have  done,  he  would  have 
seen  how  utterly  void  of  foundation  is  the  charge  he  has 
brought.  I  do  not  think  the  gentleman  intended  any  per 
sonal  allusion  to  me ;  the  terms  of  civility  on  which  we 
are,  forbid  it;  the  consciousness  of  having  said  nothing 
to  provoke  the  attack,  forbids  it :  but,  Sir,  the  individual 
who  cannot  arrogate  to  himself  sufficient  importance  to 
justify  the  supposition  that  he  was  the  object  intended, 
was,  at  that  time,  the  representative,  the  sole  represent 
ative,  of  the  first  commercial  city  in  the  Union.  That 
individual  is  now  one  of  the  members  of  this  body,  rep 
resenting  a  sovereign  State.  He  owes  it,  therefore,  to 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

those  who  have  offered  him  these  marks  of  their  confi 
dence  to  show  that  they  were  not  unworthily  bestowed ; 
he  owes  it  to  himself  to  disprove  the  reflection  which  the 
allegation  casts  on  his  character.  Suffer  me,  also,  Mr. 
President,  to  remark  that  this  very  charge  was  used 
during  the  late  election;  and  that  the  refutation  I  am 
about  to  give  was  so  widely  diffused  that  it  is  somewhat 
singular  it  should  never  have  come  to  the  senator's 
knowledge,  or  that  he  should  have  forgotten  it  if  it  had. 
Yet  one  or  the  other  must  have  been  the  case,  or  he  would 
not  now  have  repeated  the  tale,  nor,  by  incorporating  it 
in  his  eloquent  harangue,  have  given  new  currency  to  a 
refuted  calumny  which  had  long  before  been  nailed  to 
the  counter.  Since  the  honorable  gentleman  believes 
the  story  to  be  true,  and  surely  he  would  not  otherwise 
repeat  it,  hundreds  of  others  must  give  it  the  like  credit; 
and  it  increases  the  obligation  I  am  under  to  explain  all 
the  circumstances  attending  it. 

"  I  have  shown,  Sir,  what  were  the  doctrines  and 
measures  of  the  Federal  party  at  that  time ;  during  the 
whole  of  the  presidency  of  Washington  they  were  pre 
dominant  in  both  Houses;  and  as  Washington  was  the 
head  of  the  government,  one  of  their  greatest  objects 
was  to  cover  all  their  proceedings  with  the  popularity 
of  his  name,  to  represent  all  opposition  to  their  measures 
as  personal  hostility  to  him,  and  to  force  the  Republican 
party  either  to  approve  all  their  measures,  or,  by  oppos 
ing  them,  incur  the  odium  of  being  unfriendly  to  the 
Father  of  his  Country.  In  this  they  were  for  the  most 
part  defeated.  The  universal  confidence  reposed  in  the 
high  character  of  Washington,  the  gratitude  felt  for  his 
services,  the  veneration  for  his  name,  had  practically  pro 
duced  the  effect,  in  our  government,  which  a  constitu 
tional  maxim  has  in  that  of  England.  He  could  not,  it 


SENATOR  OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  335 

was  believed,  do  wrong ;  most  certainly  he  never  meant 
wrong;  most  certainly  his  ardent  wishes  were  for  the 
happiness  of  the  country  he  had  conducted  through  so 
many  perils,  and  the  preservation  of  that  form  of  gov 
ernment  which  had  been  adopted  under  his  auspices. 
Yet  measures  were  adopted,  during  his  presidency, 
which  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  country  thought 
injurious  to  their  interests,  and,  on  one  occasion,  a  ma 
jority  of  their  representatives  deemed  them  to  be  an 
infringement  on  their  privileges.  None  of  these  were 
ascribed  to  the  President;  a  practice  which  he  intro 
duced  enabled  us  to  ascribe  to  his  administration  (to 
which  in  truth  they  belonged)  all  the  measures  of  which 
we  disapproved.  The  practice  alluded  to  was  that  of 
assembling  the  Heads  of  Department  in  a  Cabinet  Coun 
cil,  and  being  guided,  as  was  generally  understood,  by 
the  opinion  of  a  majority  in  all  important  concerns. 
Hence  the  official  acts  of  the  President  came  to  be  con 
sidered  as  those  of  his  Cabinet,  and  were,  in  common 
parlance,  called  the  acts  of  the  administration ;  and  they 
were  opposed,  when  it  was  deemed  necessary,  and  can 
vassed,  and  freely  spoken  of  in  debate,  without  any  hos 
tility  being  felt,  or  supposed  to  be  felt,  towards  the 
President.  Indeed,  several  of  those  most  prominent  in 
opposition  to  acts  of  the  administration  were  men  for 
whom  Washington  had  the  highest  esteem,  and  who 
were  among  those  who  most  admired  and  revered  him. 

"  Of  the  acts  to  which  the  Republican  party  were  op 
posed  it  may  be  necessary  to  specify  some,  in  order  to 
show  that  the  opposition  was  not  a  frivolous  or  a  per 
sonal  one. 

"  The  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States  was  sent  as 
a  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  England,  while  he  held 
his  judicial  office,  which  he  retained  until  after  his  re- 


SS6  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

turn ;  thus,  in  our  opinion,  blending  the  Executive  and 
Judicial  departments,  directed  by  the  Constitution  to  be 
separated,  and  setting  an  example  which  might  create 
an  undue  influence  on  the  bench,  in  favor  of  the  Ex 
ecutive. 

"  This  minister  negotiated  a  treaty  which  contained 
stipulations  requiring  the  agency  of  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives,  in  the  exercise  of  their  constitutional  powers 
over  the  subject  of  them,  to,  carry  into  effect.  To  enable 
them  discreetly  to  exercise  these  powers,  the  House  re 
spectfully  requested  the  communication  of  such  papers, 
in  relation  to  the  treaty,  as  could,  without  injury  to  our 
foreign  relations,  be  made  public.  This  request  the 
President  was  advised  to  refuse ;  and  the  refusal  was 
grounded  on  a  denial  of  the  constitutional  right  of  the 
House  to  exercise  any  discretion  in  carrying  the  treaty 
into  effect.  On  this  refusal,  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  passed  a  resolution  declaratory  of  the  right  which 
the  President  had  denied.  I  will  not  trouble  the  Sen 
ate  with  adverting  to  any  other  measures  which  I,  and 
those  who  acted  with  me,  opposed.  We  opposed  them, 
Sir,  without,  in  any  instance,  forgetting  the  sentiments 
of  respect,  gratitude,  and  high  admiration,  which  were 
due  to  the  name  and  character  of  Washington.  We  be 
lieved  that  it  would  have  been  a  dereliction  of  duty  to 
give  up  the  independent  expression  of  our  opinion,  be 
cause  it  was  contrary  to  measures  falsely  ascribed  to  a 
name  we  revered ;  and  conscious  of  the  weight  of  that 
name,  I  may,  without  vanity,  say  there  was  some  de 
gree  of  merit  in  stemming  the  tide  of  popularity  that  was 
attached  to  it. 

"  The  mission  of  Mr.  Jay  took  place  after  the  second 
election  of  General  Washington,  and  the  discussions  on 
the  treaty  in  the  first  session  of  the  fourth  Congress,  the 


SENATOR   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

seventh  year  of  his  Presidency.  In  his  speech  on  the 
opening  of  the  second  session  of  the  same  Congress,  (I 
repeat,  Sir,  what  I  formerly  wrote  on  this  occasion,)  he  al 
luded  in  affecting  terms  to  his  approaching  retirement  from 
office.  I  can  solemnly  say  for  myself,  that,  on  this  occa 
sion,  so  far  from  any  ill  feeling  towards  the  President, 
none  among  those  who  arrogated  to  themselves  the  title 
of  his  exclusive  friends  could  feel  more  sincerely,  or  were 
more  disposed  to  express  every  sentiment  of  gratitude 
for  his  services,  admiration  for  his  character,  or  wishes 
for  his  happiness,  than  I  was.  These  were  ideas  that 
had  grown  up  with  me  from  childhood.  I  had  never 
heard  the  name  of  Washington  pronounced  but  with 
veneration  by  those  near  relatives  who  were  engaged  with 
him  in  the  same  perilous  struggle.  Independence,  liberty, 
and  victory,  were  associated  with  it  in  my  mind;  and 
the  awful  admiration  which  I  felt  when,  yet  a  boy,  I  was 
first  admitted  to  his  presence,  yielded  only  to  the  more 
rational  sentiments  of  gratitude  and  national  pride,  when, 
at  a  maturer  age,  I  could  appreciate  his  services,  and 
estimate  the  honor  his  virtues  and  character  had  conferred 
on  the  nation.  I  had  seen  him  in  the  hour  of  peril,  when 
the  contest  was  doubtful,  and  when  his  life  and  reputa 
tion,  as  well  as  the  liberties  of  the  country,  depended  on 
the  issue.  I  had  seen  him  in  the  moment  of  triumph, 
when  the  surrender  of  a  hostile  army  had  secured  that 
independence.  My  admiration  followed  him  in  his  first 
retreat,  and  was  not  lessened  by  his  quitting  it  to  give  the 
aid  of  his  name  and  influence  to  the  union  of  the  States 
under  an  efficient  government.  In  addition  to  this,  he 
had  received  me  with  kindness  in  my  youthful  visits  to 
his  camp ;  and,  without  having  it  in  my  power  to  boast 
of  any  particular  intimacy,  circumstances  had  thrown  me 
frequently  in  the  way  of  receiving  from  him  such  atten- 

43 


338  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

tions  as  indicated  some  degree  of  regard.  With  these 
motives  for  joining  in  the  most  energetic  expressions  of 
gratitude,  with  a  heart  filled  with  sentiments  of  veneration, 
and  desirous  of  recording  them,  my  concern  can  scarcely 
be  expressed,  when  I  found  that  I  must  be  debarred  from 
joining  my  voice  with  those  of  my  fellow-citizens  in  ex 
pressing  those  feelings,  unless  in  the  same  breath  I 
should  pronounce  a  recantation  of  principles  which  I 
then  thought,  and  still  think,  were  well  founded,  and 
declare  that  I  approved  measures  which  I  had  just  sol 
emnly  declared  I  thought  injurious  to  the  country. 

"  Thus,  Sir,  it  was  contrived.  At  that  period  the 
President  opened  the  session  by  a  speech,  (the  more 
convenient  mode  of  sending  a  message  having  been  in 
troduced  five  years  afterwards  by  Mr.  Jefferson,)  and 
the  House  made  an  answer,  which  they  presented  in  a 
body.  The  answer  on  this  occasion  was  most  artfully 
and  most  ably  drawn.  It  was  the  work  of  a  Federal 
committee,  and  was  supported  by  a  Federal  majority. 
It  contained,  as  it  ought  to  have  contained,  every  ex 
pression  that  gratitude,  veneration,  and  affectionate  re 
gret  could  suggest;  and  to  the  adoption  of  these  there 
would  not  have  been  a  dissenting  voice;  it  would  have 
been  carried,  not  only  unanimously,  but  by  acclamation. 
But  the  dominant  party  had  other  views :  it  was  to  be 
made  the  instrument  of  degrading  their  opponents,  if 
they  could  vote  for  it,  or  of  holding  them  up  to  all  pos 
terity  as  opposers  of  the  Saviour  of  his  Country,  if  they 
refused  to  pronounce  their  own  condemnation.  They  pre 
ferred  a  paltry  party  triumph  to  the  glory  of  the  man 
they  professed  to  honor,  and  deprived  him  of  the  expres 
sion  of  an  unanimous  vote,  that  they  might  have  some 
pretence  to  stigmatize  their  opponents  with  ingratitude. 
The  press,  Sir,  the  omnipotent  press,  and  the  publicity 


SENATOR    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.          339 

of  our  debates,  have  enabled  me,  even  at  this  distant  day, 
to  defeat  this  unworthy  end,  —  unworthy  of  the  honor 
able  men  who  contrived  and  executed  it,  and  which  noth 
ing  but  the  excitement  of  party  could  have  suggested  to 
them. 

"  To  understand  this  fully,  Sir,  I  should  read  to  you 
the  whole  of  the  address.  Its  general  character  I  have 
stated.  But  I  will  confine  myself  to  one  or  two  passages, 
which  show  what  was  endeavored  to  be  forced  upon  us, 
and  the  amendments  offered  will  show  what  we  were 
willing  to  say ;  and  I  will  then  ask  who  it  was  that 
refused  a  unanimous  expression  of  gratitude,  respect,  and 
merit. 

"  The  debates  of  that  period  were  very  concisely  taken 
down,  but  (in  Carpenter's  Debates,  p.  62)  we  find  enough 
for  our  purpose.  It  is  there  stated  that  Mr.  Livingston 
expressed  his  sorrow  'that  the  answer  was  not  so  drawn 
as  to  avoid  this  debate,  and  his  sincere  hope  that  parties 
would  so  unite  as  to  make  it  agreeable  to  all.  He  moved 
some  amendments,  first,  to  correct  an  error  in  the  phrase 
ology,  which  were  adopted,  and,  in  the  course  of  his 
remarks,  used  these  expressions :  "  He  hoped,  notwith 
standing  the  tenacity  of  adherence  to  words,  that  all  might 
agree  in  the  address ;  he  would  be  extremely  hurt,  he 
said,  could  he  conceive  that  we  differed  in  sentiments  of 
gratitude  and  admiration  for  that  great  man  ;  but,  while 
he  was  desirous  to  express  this,  he  could  not  do  it  at  the 
expense  of  his  feelings  and  principles.  The  former  he 
might  sacrifice,  but  the  latter  he  could  not  to  any  man.'" 

"  I  invite  the  particular  attention  of  the  Senate  to  the 
passage  which  I  proposed  to  alter  as  it  stood  in  the  ad 
dress  ;  it  was  in  these  words :  — 

"'And  while  we  entertain  a  grateful  conviction  that 
your  wise,  firm,  and  patriotic  administration  has  been 


340  LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

signally  conducive  to  the  success  of  the  present  form  of 
government,  we  cannot  forbear  to  express  the  deep  sen 
sations  of  REGRET  with  which  we  contemplate  your  in 
tended  retirement  from  office.'  Now,  Sir,  mark  what 
were  the  words  objected  to  in  this  sentence ;  bear  in  mind 
the  distinctions  that  have  been  drawn  between  the  char 
acter  of  the  President  and  that  of  his  administration; 
remember  what  was  the  sense  in  which  that  word  was 
universally  used  at  the  day;  recollect,  too,  what  I  have 
just  said  of  the  opposition  to  one  of  the  leading  measures 
of  that  administration,  —  and  you  will  then  be  enabled  to 
judge  whether  I,  and  those  with  whom  I  acted,  could 
give  our  assent  to  this  passage  as  it  stood.  To  show, 
however,  that,  while  we  could  not,  with  consistency  or 
truth,  say  that  the  measures  of  the  cabinet  were  wise 
and  patriotic,  we  were  perfectly  willing  to  use  these 
epithets  as  applied  to  the  President,  I  moved  to  strike 
out  the  words  'wise,  firm,  and  patriotic  administration,' 
and  insert  'your  wisdom,  firmness,  and  patriotism;'  the 
sentence  then  would  have  read  thus :  '  while  we  enter 
tain  a  grateful  conviction  that  your  wisdom?  firmness -, 
and  patriotism  have  been  signally  conducive  to  the  suc 
cess  of  the  present  form  of  government,  we  cannot  for 
bear  to  express  the  DEEP  sensations  of  REGRET  with 
which  we  contemplate  your  intended  retirement  from 
office.'  Now,  Sir,  compare  this  clause,  which  we  were 
all  ready  to  vote  for,  and  did  vote  for,  with  that  which 
was  supported  by  the  majority,  and  say  which  of  them 
expresses  the  greatest  veneration  for  the  person  and 
the  personal  character  of  Washington,  that  which  as 
cribes  wisdom,  firmness,  and  patriotism  to  the  meas 
ures  of  his  cabinet,  or  that  which  attaches  them  to  him 
self.  Say  whether  we  refused  to  express  regret  at  his 
retirement,  when  that  word,  accompanied  by  an  epi- 


SENATOR   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES.  344 

thet  most  expressive  of  its  intensity,  is  readily  adopted. 
Say  who  were  the  real  friends  to  the  glory  of  our  great 
leader  in  war  and  director  in  peace,  those  who,  for  a 
paltry  party  triumph,  deprived  him  of  an  unanimous  ex 
pression  of  thanks  and  admiration,  who  forced  him  to  ap 
pear  rather  as  the  chief  of  a  party  than  in  his  true  charac 
ter  of  the  man  uniting  all  affections,  regretted,  beloved, 
venerated  by  all  his  fellow-citizens,  or  those  who  intreated 
that,  on  this  occasion  at  least,  party  considerations  should 
be  laid  aside,  and  that  they  might  be  permitted  to  join 
their  voice  to  that  of  their  country,  and  of  the  world,  in 
expressing  the  sentiments  with  which  their  hearts  were 
filled.  Say,  finally,  Sir,  whether  the  senator  from  Mas 
sachusetts  is  justified  in  the  allegation,  that  we  refused 
to  express  respect,  gratitude,  and  regret,  on  the  retire 
ment  of  Washington ;  or  what  is  more  than  insinuated, 
that  we  slighted  his  services  and  vilified  his  character. 
Sir,  the  register  I  have  quoted  shows,  that  I  supported 
my  amendment  by  expressing  the  very  sentiments  you 
have  just  heard;  and  I  must  add,  that,  shortly  after  this 
transaction,  while  my  votes,  speeches,  and  conduct  were 
fresh  in  the  recollection  of  my  constituents,  my  term  of 
service  expired,  and  I  was  reflected  by  an  increased  ma 
jority.  Would  a  man  entertaining  the  sentiments  of 
Washington  that  have  been  ascribed  to  me  have  received 
the  votes  of  a  city  where  his  name  was  adored  I  Nay, 
more,  Sir ;  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  those  who  have 
incurred  the  reproach  of  the  senator  from  Massachusetts, 
and  for  whose  sole  use  it  was  perhaps  designed,  —  the 
President  of  the  United  States, —  was  not  long  since  se 
lected  by  the  veteran  reliques  of  the  Revolutionary  War, 
the  chosen  companions  in  arms  of  their  venerated  com 
mander,  the  New  York  Society  of  Cincinnati,  as  one  of 
the  very  few  honorary  members  upon  whom  that  distinc- 


LIFE    OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

tion  has  been  bestowed.  They  have,  since  that,  done  me 
the  same  honor.  Would  the  venerable  remnant  of  the 
friends  and  companions  of  Washington,  associated  under 
his  auspices  for  the  purpose  of  cherishing  the  friendships 
contracted  during  the  contest  he  so  gloriously  conducted, 
and  watching  over  his  fame,  so  inseparably  connected 
with  their  own  —  would  they  have  conferred  this  dis 
tinction  on  two  men,  who  had,  at  any  period  of  their 
lives,  shown  themselves  his  enemies  or  detractors]  Me, 
Sir,  they  knew  from  my  childhood ;  my  whole  life  was 
before  them.  At  the  time  these  votes  were  given  I  was 
their  immediate  representative.  Many  of  them  were  op 
posed  to  me  in  the  politics  of  the  day ;  but  they  knew  my 
conduct  to  have  been  such  as  I  have  described,  and  they 
did  justice  to  my  motives,  and  most  assuredly  would  not 
have  joined  in  my  unanimous  association  to  their  honor 
able  body,  had  they  doubted  the  purity  of  either." 

On  the  same  occasion  Mr.  Livingston  expressed,  in 
the  following  passage,  his  apprehensions  on  account  of 
the  visible  growth  of  party  spirit :  — 

"These,  Mr.  President,  were  some  of  my  reasons  for 
speaking  of  the  history  of  party  under  our  government. 
I  had  another.  It  was  to  mark  the  difference  between 
the  necessary,  and,  if  I  may  so  express  it,  the  legitimate 
parties  existing  in  all  free  governments,  founded  on  dif 
ferences  of  opinion  in  fundamental  principles,  or  an  at 
tachment  to,  or  dislike  of,  particular  measures  and  par 
ticular  men, — between  these  and  that  spirit  of  dissension 
into  which  they  are  apt  to  degenerate ;  to  throw  the 
weight  of  my  experience,  and  the  little  my  opinions  may 
have,  in  the  scale,  and  lift  up  a  warning  voice  against 
the  indulgence  of  the  passions  which  lead  to  it,  the 
allusions  that  irritate,  the  personal  reflections  that  em 
bitter  debate,  and  the  altercations  that  debase  it.  The 


SENATOR    OF  THE    UNITED  STATES.  343 

spirit  of  which  I  speak  originates  in  the  most  trifling-  as 
well  as  the  most  important  circumstances.  The  liberties 
of  a  nation  or  the  color  of  a  cockade  are  sufficient  to  ex 
cite  it.  It  creates  imaginary,  and  magnifies  real  causes 
of  complaint  ;  arrogates  to  itself  every  virtue,  denies 
every  merit  to  its  opponents ;  secretly  entertains  the 
worst  designs,  publicly  imputes  them  to  its  adversaries; 
poisons  domestic  happiness  with  its  dissensions ;  assails 
the  character  of  the  living  with  calumny,  and,  invading 
the  very  secrets  of  the  grave  with  its  viperous  slanders, 
destroys  the  reputation  of  the  dead ;  harangues  in  the 
market-place ;  disputes  at  the  social  board ;  distracts 
public  councils  with  unprincipled  propositions  and  in 
trigues  ;  embitters  their  discussions  with  invective  and 
recrimination,  and  degrades  them  by  personalities  and 
vulgar  abuse ;  seats  itself  on  the  bench ;  clothes  itself  in 
the  robes  of  justice ;  soils  the  purity  of  the  ermine,  and 
poisons  the  adminstration  of  justice  in  its  source ;  mounts 
the  pulpit,  and,  in  the  name  of  a  God  of  mercy  and 
peace,  preaches  discord  and  vengeance ;  invokes  the  worst 
scourges  of  Heaven,  war,  pestilence,  and  famine,  as 
preferable  alternatives  to  party  defeat :  blind,  vindictive, 
cruel,  remorseless,  unprincipled,  and  at  last  frantic,  it 
communicates  its  madness  to  friends  as  well  as  foes ;  re 
spects  nothing,  fears  nothing ;  rushes  on  the  sword ; 
braves  the  dangers  of  the  ocean ;  and  would  not  be 
turned  from  its  mad  career  by  the  majesty  of  Heaven 
itself,  armed  with  its  tremendous  thunders.  The  tris- 
tes  irce  of  the  poet,  — 

*  quas  neque  Noricus 
Deterret  ensis,  nee  mare  naufragum, 
Nee  saevus  ignis,  nee  tremendo 
Jupiter  ipse  ruens  tumultu  ; ' 

and  to  which,  with  an  elegance  of  expression  and  pro- 


344  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

fundity  of  thought  rarely  united,  he  ascribes  the  ruin  of 
republics,  — 

'  et  altis  urbibus  ultimas 
Stetere  causse  cur  perirent 
Funditus,  imprimeretqce  muris 
Hostile  aratrum  exercitus  insolens.' 

"  Yes,  Sir,  the  poet  tells  us  true.  These  few  lines  con 
tain  a  most  important  lesson.  Not  long  before  he  wrote 
them,  there  existed  a  confederacy  of  independent  States, 
united,  as  ours  are,  by  the  same  religion,  language,  man 
ners,  and  laws.  Fair  cities,  adorned  with  noble  edifices, 
decorated  by  the  miracles  of  the  imitative  arts,  governed 
by  wise  magistrates,  and  defended  by  intrepid  warriors, 
where  sages  gave  lessons  of  morality  and  wisdom,  poured 
forth  their  numerous  inhabitants  at  stated  seasons  to 
assist  at  solemn  games,  where  poets  sung,  and  histo 
rians  read  their  instructive  pages,  to  admiring  crowds  ; 
where  the  young  contended  for  the  prize  of  agility  or 
strength,  and  the  old  recounted  their  former  exploits ; 
where  the  wisdom  and  valor  and  talent  and  beauty  of 
each  State  were  the  boast  and  pride  of  the  whole.  What 
followed'?  Civil  dissension  breathed  its  poisonous  influ 
ence  over  them,  and  they  met  to  contend,  not  for  the 
peaceful  prizes  of  dexterity  or  genius,  but  in  the  deadly 
strife  of  civil  war.  Where  are  their  magnificent  temples, 
their  theatres,  their  statues  of  gods  and  heroes'?  They 
have  vanished;  they  have  been  swept  by  the  besom  of 
destruction  !  The  ploughshare  of  devastation  has  been 
driven  over  their  walls,  and  their  mighty  ruins  remain 
as  monumental  warnings  to  free  States,  of  the  danger  of 
falling  into  the  excess  of  party  rage." 

The  remainder  of  this  speech  was  devoted  principally 
to  an  elaborate  defence  of  the  policy  and  action  of  the 
President  against  assaults  made  upon  them,  in  the  course 


SENATOR   OF  THE    UNITED    STATES.  34,5 

of  the  debate,  by  several  senators,  and  to  a  no  less  elab 
orate  exposition  of  Livingston's  views  of  the  Constitution, 
and  the  theory  of  the  Federal  Government,  of  which  the 
following  is  a  resume,  in  his  own  words : — 

"  I  think  that  the  Constitution  is  the  result  of  a  com 
pact  entered  into  by  the  several  States,  by  which  they 
surrendered  a  part  of  their  sovereignty  to  the  Union, 
and  vested  the  part  so  surrendered  in  a  General  Govern 
ment. 

"  That  this  Government  is  partly  popular,  acting  di 
rectly  on  the  citizens  of  the  several  States,  partly  fed 
erative,  depending  for  its  existence  and  action  on  the 
existence  and  action  of  the  several  States. 

"  That  by  the  institution  of  this  Government  the  States 
have  unequivocally  surrendered  every  constitutional  right 
of  impeding  or  resisting  the  execution  of  any  decree  or 
judgment  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  any  case  of  law  or 
equity  between  persons  or  on  matters  of  whom  or  on 
which  that  court  has  jurisdiction,  even  if  such  decree  or 
judgment  should,  in  the  opinion  of  the  States,  be  uncon 
stitutional. 

"  That,  in  cases  in  which  a  law  of  the  United  States 
may  infringe  the  constitutional  right  of  a  State,  but  which, 
in  its  operation,  cannot  be  brought  before  the  Supreme 
Court,  under  the  terms  of  the  jurisdiction  expressly  given 
to  it  over  particular  persons  or  matters,  that  court  is  not 
created  the  umpire  between  a  State  that  may  deem  itself 
aggrieved  and  the  General  Government. 

"  That,  among  the  attributes  of  sovereignty  retained 
by  the  States  is  that  of  watching  over  the  operations 
of  the  General  Government,  and  protecting  its  citizens 
against  their  unconstitutional  abuse;  and  that  this  can 
be  legally  done,  — 

"  First,  in  the  case  of  an  act  in  the  opinion  of  the  State 

44 


316  LIFE  OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

palpably  unconstitutional,  but  affirmed  in  the  Supreme 
Court  in  the  legal  exercise  of  its  functions,  — 

"By  remonstrating  against  it  to  Congress; 

"By  an  address  to  the  People  in  their  elective  functions 
to  change  or  instruct  their  representatives ; 

"  By  a  similar  address  to  the  other  States,  in  which 
they  will  have  a  right  to  declare  that  they  consider  the 
act  as  unconstitutional  and  therefore  void ; 

"  By  proposing  amendments  to  the  Constitution  in  the 
manner  pointed  out  by  that  instrument ; 

"  And,  finally,  if  the  act  be  intolerably  oppressive,  and 
they  find  the  General  Government  persevere  in  enforc 
ing  it,  by  a  resort  to  the  natural  right  which  every  people 
have  to  resist  extreme  oppression. 

"  Secondly,  if  the  act  be  one  of  those  few  which  in 
their  operation  cannot  be  submitted  to  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  be  one  that  will,  in  the  opinion  of  the  State,  justify 
the  risk  of  a  withdrawal  from  the  Union,  that  this  last 
extreme  remedy  may  at  once  be  resorted  to. 

"  That  the  right  of  resistance  to  the  operation  of  an  act 
of  Congress,  in  the  extreme  cases  above  alluded  to,  is 
not  a  right  derived  from  the  Constitution,  but  can  be 
justified  only  on  the  supposition  that  the  Constitution  has 
been  broken,  and  the  State  absolved  from  its  obligation ; 
and  that,  whenever  resorted  to,  it  must  be  at  the  risk  of 
all  the  penalties  attached  to  an  unsuccessful  resistance  to 
established  authority. 

"  That  the  alleged  right  of  a  State  to  put  a  veto  on  the 
execution  of  a  law  of  the  United  States  which  such  State 
may  declare  to  be  unconstitutional,  attended  (as,  if  it  exist, 
it  must  be)  with  a  correlative  obligation  on  the  part  of 
the  General  Government  to  refrain  from  executing  it, 
and  the  further  alleged  obligation  on  the  part  of  that 
Government  to  submit  the  question  to  the  States  by 


SENATOR   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.          34,7 

proposing  amendments,  are  not  given  by  the  Constitu 
tion,  nor  do  they  grow  out  of  any  of  the  reserved 
powers. 

"  That  the  exercise  of  the  powers  last  mentioned,  would 
introduce  a  feature  in  our  Government,  not  expressed  in 
the  Constitution,  not  implied  from  any  right  of  sover 
eignty  reserved  to  the  States,  not  suspected  to  exist  by 
the  friends  or  enemies  of  the  Constitution  when  it  was 
framed  or  adopted,  not  warranted  by  practice  or  contem 
poraneous  exposition,  nor  implied  by  the  true  construc 
tion  of  the  Virginia  resolutions  in  '98. 

"  That  the  introduction  of  this  feature  in  our  Govern 
ment  would  totally  change  its  nature,  make  it  inefficient, 
invite  to  dissension,  and  end,  at  no  distant  period,  in  sep 
aration  ;  and  that,  if  it  had  been  proposed  in  the  form 
of  an  explicit  provision  in  the  Constitution,  it  would  have 
been  unanimously  rejected,  both  in  the  Convention  which 
framed  that  instrument,  and  in  those  which  adopted  it. 

"  That  the  theory  of  the  Federal  Government  being  the 
result  of  the  general  will  of  the  People  of  the  United 
States  in  their  aggregate  capacity,  and  founded,  in  no 
degree,  on  compact  between  the  States,  would  tend  to 
the  most  disastrous  practical  results ;  that  it  would  place 
three  fourths  of  the  States  at  the  mercy  of  one  fourth, 
and  lead  inevitably  to  a  consolidated  Government,  and 
finally  to  monarchy,  if  the  doctrine  were  generally  ad 
mitted,  and  if  partially  so,  and  opposed,  to  civil  dis 
sension. 

"  These  being  my  deliberate  opinions  on  the  nature  and 
consequences  of  the  constructions  hitherto  given  of  the 
Federal  compact,  and  the  obligations  and  rights  of  the 
States  under  it,  deeming  those  constructions  erroneous, 
and  in  the  highest  degree  dangerous  to  the  Union,  I  felt 
it  a  duty  to  my  place  and  to  my  country  to  say  so." 


348  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

In  conclusion  of  this  speech,  Mr.  Livingston,  having 
alluded  to  the  interior  marble  columns  of  the  chamber  of 
the  House,  composed  of  variegated  pebbles  united  by  a 
natural,  calcareous  cement,  exclaimed :  — 

"  What  were  they  originally  1  Worthless  heaps  of 
unconnected  sand  and  pebbles,  washed  apart  by  every 
wave,  blown  asunder  by  every  wind.  What  are  they 
now  1  Bound  together  by  an  indissoluble  cement  of  na 
ture,  fashioned  by  the  hand  of  skill,  they  are  changed 
into  lofty  columns,  the  component  parts  and  the  support 
of  a  noble  edifice,  symbols  of  the  union  and  strength 
on  which  alone  our  government  can  rest,  solid  within, 
polished  without ;  standing  firm  only  by  the  rectitude  of 
their  position,  they  are  emblems  of  what  senators  of  the 
United  States  should  be.  and  teach  us  that  the  slightest 
obliquity  of  position  would  prostrate  the  structure,  and 
draw  with  their  own  fall  that  of  all  they  support  and 
protect,  in  one  mighty  ruin. 

"  A  distrust  of  the  justice  and  good  feeling  of  one  part 
of  the  Union  by  another  is  a  most  dangerous  symptom ; 
it  ought  not  to  be  indulged  even  when  occasional  circum 
stances  justify  it.  A  distrust  of  the  justice  of  the  whole 
is  still  more  fatal.  How  can  we  hope  for  ready  obe 
dience  to  our  laws,  if  the  people  are  taught  to  believe  in 
a  permanent  hostility  of  one  part  of  the  Union  towards 
another,  and  that  every  appeal  made  by  reason  and  ar 
gument  to  their  common  head  is  vain  I  Perseverance 
will  do  much ;  for  even  if  the  illustration  which  has  been 
made  of  party  obduracy  were  just,  we  should  remem 
ber  that  the  hardest  marble  is  worn  by  a  succession  of 
drops ;  much  more  may  we  hope  that  prejudice,  however 
strong,  will  yield  to  the  claims  of  justice,  frequently  en 
forced  by  a  repetition  of  sound  argument. 

"  Menace  is  unwise,  because  it  is  generally  ineffectual ; 


SENATOR   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.  34,9 

and  of  all  menaces,  that  which  strikes  at  the  existence  of 
the  Union  is  the  most  irritating.  Have  those  who  thus 
rashly  use  it,  who  endeavor  to  familiarize  the  people  to 
the  idea,  have  they  themselves  ever  done  what  they 
recommend  I  Have  they  calculated,  have  they  consid 
ered,  what  one,  two,  or  three  States  would  be,  disjointed 
from  the  rest  I  Are  they  sure  they  would  not  be  dis 
jointed  themselves  ?  That  parts  of  any  State,  which 
might  try  the  hazardous  experiment,  might  not  prefer 
their  allegiance  to  the  whole  1  Even  if  civil  war  should 
not  be  the  consequence  of  such  disunion, —  an  exemption 
of  which  I  cannot  conceive  the  possibility, —  what  must  be 
the  state  of  such  detached  parts  of  the  mighty  whole  ? 
Dependence  on  foreign  alliances  for  protection  against 
brothers  and  friends  ;  degradation  in  the  scale  of  nations ; 
disposed  of  by  the  protocols  of  allied  monarchs  to  one  of 
their  dependants,  like  the  defenceless  Greeks.  But  I  will 
not  enlarge  on  this  topic,  so  fruitful  of  the  most  appalling 
apprehensions.  Disunion!  the  thought  itself,  —  the  means 
by  which  it  may  be  effected,  —  its  frightful  and  degrading 
consequences,  —  the  idea,  the  very  mention  of  it,  ought 
to  be  banished  from  our  debates,  from  our  minds. 
God  deliver  us  from  this  worst,  this  greatest  evil.  All 
others  we  can  resist  and  overcome ;  encroachments  on 
individual  or  State  rights  cannot,  under  our  representa 
tive  government,  be  long  or  oppressively  persevered  in. 
There  are  legitimate  and  effectual  means  to  correct  any 
palpable  infraction  of  our  Constitution.  Try  them  all 
before  recourse  is  had  to  the  menace  of  this  worst  of 
evils.  But  when  an  honest  difference  of  construction 
exists,  surely  such  extreme  means  or  arguments  ought 
not  to  be  resorted  to.  Let  the  cry  of  unconstitutional 
oppression  be  justly  raised  within  these  walls,  and  it  will 
be  heard  abroad,  —  it  will  be  examined ;  the  people  are 


350  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

intelligent,  the  people  are  just,  and  in  time  these  char 
acteristics  must  have  an  effect  on  their  Representatives. 
But  let  the  cry  of  danger  to  the  Union  be  heard,  and  it 
will  be  echoed  from  the  White  to  the  Rocky  Mountains ; 
every  patriotic  heart  will  beat  high  with  indignation ; 
every  hand  will  draw  a  sword  in  its  defence.  Let  the 
partisans  on  either  side  of  this  argument  be  assured  that 
the  people  will  not  submit  to  consolidation,  nor  suffer 
disunion ;  and  that  their  good  sense  will  detect  the  fallacy 
of  arguments  which  lead  to  either. 

"  Sir,  I  have  done.  I  have  uttered  the  sincere  dictates 
of  my  best  judgment,  on  topics  closely  connected  with 
our  dearest  interest.  I  have,  because  it  was  my  duty, 
uttered  them  freely, —  without  reserve,  but  I  hope  with 
out  offence ;  with  the  respect  that  was  due  to  the  opin 
ion  of  others,  and  with  a  becoming  diffidence  of  my  own. 
It  would  be  a  cause  of  great  regret  if  I  should  have  mis 
apprehended  the  tendency  of  any  of  the  doctrines  of  which 
I  have  spoken.  It  would  have  been  a  greater,  if,  think 
ing  of  them  as  I  do,  I  had  omitted  the  animadversions 
which  I  thought  their  consequences  required. 

"Gentlemen  have  spoken,  with  patriotic  enthusiasm,  of 
the  consolation  they  would  receive,  at  their  last  moments, 
in  seeing  the  flag  of  their  country  display  to  their  dying 
eyes  its  emblems  of  union  and  glory.  The  period  when 
mine  must  be  closed  in  night  is  too  near  to  refer  to  it 
the  duration  of  my  country's  happiness.  But  I  can  an 
ticipate  for  that  beloved  country  a  continuance  of  free 
dom  and  prosperity  long  after  the  distant,  I  hope  the 
far  distant  day,  when  the  last  of  those  honorable  men 
shall  have  finished  his  useful  career.  I  can  apprehend 
for  it  the  worst  of  evils  before  any  one  of  them  shall 
quit  the  stage.  These  hopes  are  founded  on  the  exer 
tions  of  active  and  enlightened  patriotism  to  preserve 


SENATOR   OF    THE    UNITED  STATES.  351 

the   Union  ;    these  fears,   on   the   madness  of  party  that 
may  destroy  it." 

It  was  during  Mr.  Livingston's  senatorial  term,  and 
in  the  Congressional  vacations,  that  some  correspondence, 
with  an  exchange  of  their  respective  works,  occurred  be 
tween  him  and  Jeremy  Bentham.  A  portion  of  the  cor 
respondence  has  appeared  in  the  valuable  edition  of  Ben- 
tham's  works  published  by  his  executor,  Bowring.  Some 
passages  from  Livingston's  part  of  it  have  already  been 
quoted  or  referred  to  in  this  volume.  The  following  is 
the  close  of  one  of  Bentham's  letters,  —  of  which  the 
first  part  is  printed  by  Bowring,  —  dated  February  23, 
1830,  and  the  original  of  which  is  now  lying  before  me, 
written  upon  thick  paper  of  the  foolscap  size,  with  wide 
margins  ruled  off,  spread  over  fourteen  pages,  in  which 
the  venerable  writer  appears  to  have  had  the  assistance 
of  both  his  secretaries,  though  winding  it  up  with  his 
own  hand :  — 

"  What  shall  we  say  of  these  scholars  of  the  school 
called  the  Historical  I  To  find  a  parallel  for  them,  we 
must  suppose  the  scene  to  lie  in  a  private  family.  Prob 
lem  to  be  solved,  what  shall  be  served  up  for  dinner.  In 
stead  of  saying  to  the  cook,  Give  us  a  rump  of  beef 
to-day,  with  a  plum-pudding,  says  the  mistress  to  her, 
Look  back  to  the  housekeeping-book,  as  many  years  of  it 
as  you  can  find,  as  likewise  to  the  housekeeping-books  of 
our  next-door  neighbors  to  the  right  and  left,  as  many 
of  them  as  you  can  get  a  sight  of;  this  done,  it  will 
be  your  business  to  guess,  not  mine  to  tell  you,  what  it 
is  I  wish  to  have  for  dinner. 

"  Not  that  the  cook  would  have  any  great  objection  to 
this  substitute  for  a  command,  if  her  wages  were  to  go 
on  increasing  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  housekeep- 


352  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

ing-books  in  which  the  search  was  made,  and  the  length 
of  time  occupied  in  making  it;  and  here,  too,  let  any 
one  say  whether  the  parallel  does  not  hold  good?  How 
opposite  soever  to  common  sense,  would  not  this  be  al 
together  apposite  to  common  law  ? 

"  I  am,  Sir,  with  the 

"  sincerest  respect,  yours, 

"JEREMY  BENTHAM. 

"  To  EDWARD  LIVINGSTON, 
"  Senator  from  Louisiana. 

"  I  hope  this  copy  contains  no  material  errors.  The 
original  scrawl  would  have  been  illegible.  Neither  time 
nor  eyes  admit  of  revision." 

Mr.  Livingston  continued  to  discharge  assiduously  the 
ordinary  duties  of  a  senator,  till  the  close  of  the  second 
session  in  March,  1831.  On  the  second  of  that  month, 
the  bill  for  the  relief  of  James  Monroe  being  under 
discussion,  he  repeated  the  substance  of  what  he  had 
said  on  the  same  bill  while  a  member  of  the  House,  by 
way  of  protest  against  the  claim  put  forth,  on  behalf  of 
the  ex -President,  for  the  merit  of  services  in  the  pur 
chase  of  Louisiana  which  had  really  been  rendered  by 
Mr.  Livingston's  late  brother. 

But  a  task  that  still  occupied  the  best  part  of  his 
thoughts  and  labor  was  the  adaptation  of  his  system  of 
penal  law  to  the  wants  of  the  Federal  Government,  with 
a  view  to  its  adoption  by  Congress.  At  the  first  session 
after  he  entered  the  Senate  he  brought  in  a  bill  with 
that  object,  and  gave  notice  that  he  would  press  the 
subject  upon  the  attention  of  Congress  at  the  next  ses 
sion,  Accordingly,  on  the  3d  of  March,  1831,  he 
moved  for  leave  to  bring  in  his  bill,  which  was  granted. 
The  code  thus  proposed  was  the  same  in  substance  as 


SENATOR   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.          S53 

that  prepared  for  Louisiana,  with  such  modifications  as 
the  peculiar  structure  of  the  General  Government  ren 
dered  necessary.  In  introducing  the  system,  he  asked 
the  particular  attention  of  senators  to  two  of  its  features, 
—  provisions  for  defining  and  punishing,  hy  positive  law, 
offences  against  the  law  of  nations ;  and  the  total  aboli 
tion  of  the  penalty  of  death, —  "in  order  that  they  might 
he  prepared  to  meet  the  discussion  which  he  should  think 
it  a  duty  to  invite  at  the  next  session." 

The  work  was  printed  by  the  Senate,  for  further  con 
sideration  ;  but  at  the  coming  session  the  author  had 
ceased  to  be  a  senator,  and  the  subject  has  not  been 
again  taken  up  by  Congress. 

Whilst  Livingston  was  a  member  of  the  Senate,  it 
was  clearly  proved,  in  more  than  one  instance,  that, 
closely  and  long  identified  by  personal  and  political 
relations  as  he  and  Jackson,  in  general,  had  been, 
neither  of  them  was  capable  of  being  blindly  led  by  the 
other,  in  matters  of  principle  or  of  conduct.  When,  in 
May,  1830,  the  President  vetoed  the  Maysville  Road 
bill  and  the  Washington  Turnpike  bill,  under  the  con 
viction,  sharply  expressed,  of  the  unconstitutionality  of 
those  measures,  their  reconsideration  by  Congress  took 
place.  The  last-named  of  these  bills  having  originated 
in  the  Senate,  the  vetoing  message  was  addressed  to 
that  body.  We  have  already  seen  that  Livingston  ear 
nestly  believed  this  class  of  measures  to  be  consistent  with 
the  Constitution,  and  he  had  voted  for  this  particular 
improvement  as  expedient  and  wise.  He  now  voted 
promptly,  with  the  majority,  but  not  two  thirds  of  the 
Senate,  in  favor  of  passing  the  bill  over  the  President's 
veto. 

And  when  Jackson  desired  to  reward  with  an  office 
the  friendship  and  services  of  the  unfortunate  Henry  Lee, 

45 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

whose  notorious  fault  was  one  of  the  grosser  violations 
of  the  code  of  domestic  morals,  Livingston  —  and  it  is 
the  only  act,  seeming  like  one  of  stern  severity,  which 
my  attentive  study  of  his  career  has  enabled  me  to  at 
tribute  to  him  —  voted  against  confirming  the  nomina 
tion  of  the  brilliant,  but  criminal,  though  perhaps  contrite 
friend  of  the  President. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 
SECRETARY   OF   STATE. 

Montgomery  Place — Mr.  Livingston's  Retirement  for  the  Congres 
sional  Vacation  of  1831  —  A  Summons  to  Washington  —  Dissolution  of 
the  Cabinet  —  The  Secretaryship  of  State  pressed  upon  Mr.  Livingston  — 
Letter  to  his  Wife  —  Acceptance  of  the  Office  —  His  Views  of  the  Po 
sition  —  Letters  —  Foreign  Transactions  of  the  Government  —  Personal 
Characteristics  of  the  Secretary  of  State  —  Anecdotes  —  Character  and 
Influence  of  Mrs.  Livingston  —  Proceedings  in  the  Senate  on  the  Confir 
mation  of  the  Cabinet  —  Dignified  Course  of  Mr.  Livingston  on  that  Oc 
casion  —  Independent  Conduct  in  Office  — Course  on  the  President's  Bank 
Policy  —  Nullification — Draught  of  the  Proclamation  of  December  10, 
1832 — ^Jotes  from  the  President  to  Mr.  Livingston —  Amendment  of  a 
Single  Paragraph — The  Growth  of  Mr.  Livingston's  Reputation  abroad 
—  Election  to  the  Institute  of  France  —  The  French  Mission  —  Letter 
from  Lafayette  —  Marriage  of  Mr.  Livingston's  Daughter — His  Ap 
pointment  as  Minister  to  France  —  De  Tocqueville. 

TN  1828,  Mr.  Livingston's  eldest  sister,  the  venerated 
Janet  Montgomery,  had  died,  bequeathing  to  him  the 
bulk  of  her  fortune,  including  her  home,  Montgomery 
Place.  Childless  herself,  she  had  looked  upon  her  nephew 
Lewis  as  an  adopted  son,  and  had  expected  to  make  him 
her  heir.  His  sad  early  death  had  diverted  the  bequest 
to  his  father. 

Montgomery  Place  is  an  estate  of  about  three  hundred 
acres,  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Hudson,  in  the  County  of 
Dutchess.  It  is  entered  only  —  from  a  road  parallel  to 
and  about  a  mile  distant  from  the  river  —  by  a  wide 
avenue,  bordered  with  ancient  trees,  and  winding  over 
variedly  sloping  grounds,  amongst  a  plentiful,  half  na 
tive,  half  exotic  shrubbery.  The  house,  which  Mrs.  Mont- 


356  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

gomery  erected  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  cen 
tury,  is  a  large  and  plain  mansion,  overlooking,  from 
the  summit  of  a  broad,  high,  and  undulating  lawn,  the 
river,  which  there  appears  like  a  lake  with  islands  and 
irregular  bays,  and  in  distinct  view  of  the  whole  range 
of  the  Catskill  Mountains.  The  northern  and  southern 
borders  of  the  estate,  together  with  the  river-bank,  here 
high  and  precipitous,  are  covered  with  their  native  for 
ests.  The  northern  boundary  is  a  considerable  stream, 
which  rushes  to  the  river  over  two  precipices,  of  twenty 
and  forty  feet,  and  forms,  in  the  woods  of  Montgomery 
Place,  by  an  overflow  between  these  falls,  a  beautiful 
lake  and  peninsula.  The  forest  on  this  side  is  uneven 
and  hilly,  and  is  laid  out  in  a  labyrinth  of  foot-w7alks, 
with  a  variety  of  bridges  and  summer-houses.  The 
wood  of  the  southern  side  is  devoted  to  the  purpose  of 
a  private  driving-ground.  A  carriage  there  passes,  over 
a  constantly  changing  road,  two  miles  in  extent,  through 
lawn,  opening,  ravine,  and  thicket,  obtaining  here  and 
there  a  glimpse  of  the  river  or  of  the  mountains. 

To  this  retreat,  but  a  few  miles  from  his  birthplace,  — 
itself  a  memorial  of  affection  and  hallowed  by  many  as 
sociations, —  Livingston  retired  in  March,  1831,  to  be 
soon  joined  by  his  family,  with  a  prospect  of  unaccus 
tomed  repose,  to  last  until  the  opening  of  the  next  ses 
sion,  in  December.  I  must  now  relate  how  suddenly 
and  how  soon  this  prospect  was  interrupted. 

Shortly  after  the  9th  of  April,  whilst  he  was  busy 
in  the  culture  of  trees,  shrubs,  and  flowers,  he  received 
from  the  Secretary  of  State  the  following  letter :  — 

["  Strictly  Confidential.] 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :  We  wish  to  see  you  here  at  the 
earliest  practicable  moment,  on  an  affair  of  deep  interest. 


SECRETARY  OF   STATE.  357 

The  President  will  be  obliged  if  you  will  start  the  day 
after  you  receive  this,  under  circumstances  which  will 
serve  to  avoid  speculation  by  preventing  its  being  known 
that  your  destination  is  Washington.  That  may  prob 
ably  be  best  done  by  giving  out  that  you  are  going  to 
Philadelphia. 

"  The  President  desires  me  to  say  to  you,  that  he  will 
test  your  adaptation  for  the  service  that  may  be  required 
of  you  by  the  secrecy  and  despatch  of  your  movements 
on  this  occasion. 

"  Lest  you  may  have  left  town,  I  send  a  copy  of  this 
letter  to  our  friend  Bowne,  who  knows  only  that  he  is 
to  see  that  you  get  it,  and  that  he  is  to  say  nothing  about 
it,  an  injunction  which  he  will  be  sure  to  observe.  Make 
my  best  respects  to  the  ladies,  and  believe  me  to  be, 

"  Very  truly  yours, 

"  M.  VAN  BUREN. 

"  E.  LIVINGSTON,  Esq. 

"  Washington,  April  9,  1831." 

He  obeyed  the  summons,  observing  the  secrecy  and 
haste  enjoined,  and  amusing  his  very  intimate  friend, 
George  M.  Dallas,  whom  on  his  way  he  met  at  Phila 
delphia,  with  a  glowing  account  of  some  rose-buds  which 
he  was  watching  at  home.  Why  he  had  been  sent  for 
he  could  form  no  probable  surmise,  till,  on  his  arrival  at 
Washington,  he  was  told  by  the  President  and  Secretary. 
The  well-known  dissolution  of  Jackson's  first  Cabinet  was 
about  to  be  precipitated,  and  Livingston  was  wanted  to 
succeed  the  Secretary  of  State.  This  was  an  exigency 
which  he  would  have  been  glad  to  have  avoided,  but 
which,  after  it  had  arisen,  could  not  be  lightly  consid 
ered  or  acted  upon.  He  immediately  wrote  the  follow 
ing  letter  to  his  wife :  — 


358  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

"  Washington,  Saturday  night. 

"  Guess  until  you  are  tired,  my  dear  Louise,  and  you 
will  not  hit  on  the  cause  of  my  summons  to  this  place. 
An  offer  is  made  to  me  of  a  place  that  would  be  the  ob 
ject  of  the  highest  ambition  to  every  politician,  —  it  is 
pressed  upon  me  with  all  the  warmth  of  friendship,  and 
every  appeal  to  my  love  of  country.  Yet  it  makes  me 
melancholy,  and,  though  I  have  not  refused,  I  have  not 
accepted.  In  short,  to  keep  you  no  longer  in  suspense, 
I  am  offered  the  first  place  in  an  entire  new  Cabinet, 
with  the  exception  of  the  P.  M.  G.  V.  B.  has  taken  the 
high  and  popular  ground,  that,  being  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency,  he  ought  not  to  remain  in  the  Cabinet,  when 
all  the  measures  will  be  attributed  to  intrigue,  and  made 
to  bear  upon  the  President.  He  has,  therefore,  prevailed 
on  the  President  to  accept  his  resignation.  I  have,  in 
an  interview  I  have  just  had,  requested  time  for  con 
sideration.  The  suddenness  of  the  offer,  my  private  ar 
rangements,  and,  as  a  conclusive  argument,  the  state  of 
your  health,  which  might,  perhaps,  oblige  me  to  make  a 
voyage.  This  last  was  answered  ingeniously  enough. 
Davezac  should  have  leave  to  meet  you  at  any  port  to 
which  you  might  sail,  and  conduct  you  to  Paris.  At 
last,  it  was  put  on  the  footing  that  I  should  have  as  much 
time  for  deliberation  as  the  present  incumbent  would  con 
sent  to  remain  in  office,  but  with  a  smart  slap  on  the 
knee,  '  My  friend  Livingston,  you  must  accept.'  And 
so  we  parted.  I  shall  make  no  promise  until  we  meet. 
The  selection  I  think,  except  the  first  place,  a  good  one. 
E.  L.,  Sec'y  of  State;  H.  L.  White,  War;  McLane, 
Treasury ;  Woodbury,  Navy ;  Att'y-Gen'l,  not  decided 
as  yet.  All  this  is  a  profound  secret,  not  even  com 
municated  to  C g.  Therefore,  give  not  the  slightest 

hint,  even  to  him.     In  addition  to  the  reluctance  to  give 


SECRETARY   OF   STATE.  359 

up  my  independence,  I  have  serious  doubts  of  my  ability 
to  fill  tbe  office  with  credit.  I  know  nothing  of  the  de 
tails  ;  the  political  intrigues  would  worry  me ;  in  short, 
I  am  perplexed.  I  must  remain  here,  I  think,  until 
Tuesday. 

"  In  this,  as  in  everything  else,  my  dear  wife,  your 
happiness  and  that  of  my  daughter  shall  be  my  first 
consideration.  You  may  write  to  me  in  general  terms, 
and  direct  to  Head's  at  Philadelphia,  for  I  shall  be  un 
easy  until  I  hear  that  this  letter  has  been  read  and  de 
stroyed. 

"  I  embrace  you  tenderly  and  affectionately. 

"E.  L." 

After  returning  home,  he  promptly  decided  on  yielding 
to  the  President's  wishes.  He  arrived  at  Washington 
on  the  5th  of  May,  and  on  the  24th  entered  upon  his 
new  office.  The  interval  he  passed  at  the  department, 
in  a  laborious  perusal  of  the  late  transactions  of  the  prin 
cipal  missions. 

There  was  no  affectation  in  the  distrust  which  he  ex 
pressed  of  his  own  qualifications  for  his  new  duties,  nor 
in  the  misgiving  with  which  they  were  undertaken.  In 
a  letter  to  Governor  Roman,  of  Louisiana,  resigning  the 
senatorial  office,  he  declared,  that,  in  exchanging  a  situ 
ation  which  he  had  always  thought  more  independent 
than  any  in  the  government,  for  one  of  greater  labor, 
more  responsibility,  and  greater  exposure  to  obloquy  and 
misrepresentation,  he  had  neither  consulted  his  interest 
nor  ease,  and  still  less  his  ambition,  which  was  before 
perfectly  satisfied ;  but  that  he  yielded  to  the  wishes  of 
those  who,  forming,  he  feared,  a  too  favorable  opinion 
of  his  powers,  thought  he  could  be  more  useful  to  the 
nation  in  the  station  to  which  he  had  been  called.  In 


360  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

the  confidence  of  private  friendship,  he  wrote  to  Mr. 
Dallas,  —  "I  assure  you,  confidentially,  I  every  day 
experience  a  greater  regret  that  I  could  not  have  de 
clined  ;  but  now,  le  vin  est  tire,  and,  whether  the  draught 
be  bitter  or  sweet,  il  faut  le  boire.  At  any  rate,  I  prom 
ise  you,  it  will  not  intoxicate  me."  To  his  brother-in- 
law,  General  Armstrong,  he  wrote :  — 

"  I  do  not  wonder  at  your  hesitation  whether  to  con 
gratulate  me  or  not.  The  same  feeling  made  me  reluc 
tant  to  accept  the  place.  I  preferred  the  seat  in  the 
Senate.  I  was  aware  of  the  labor,  the  exposure  to  abuse, 
and  the  small  opportunity  of  gaining  any  distinction,  that 
I  might  expect  in  the  Department  of  State.  Yet  such 
appeals  were  made  to  my  feelings  that  I  thought  it  a 
duty  to  yield.  Very  few  will  believe  this;  and  therefore 
I  do  not  generally  take  the  trouble  to  make  the  expla 
nation,  and  am  content  to  appear  as  one  of  the  many  to 
whom  the  place  is  an  object  of  high  ambition." 

In  a  letter  to  Judge  Carleton,  dated  the  day  of  his  in 
duction  into  office,  referring  to  his  appointment,  he  said:  — 

"  You  congratulate  me  upon  it,  as  it  is  natural  you 
should ;  but  I  assure  you,  it  was  with  great  reluctance 
I  agreed  to  accept  the  place.  The  labor  I  do  not  mind; 
but  the  renewal  of  all  the  abuse  that  party  editors  think 
it  a  part  of  their  duty  to  rake  up,  the  obligation  to 
leave  the  delightful  retreat  in  which  I  was  grafting  my 
trees,  and  watching  the  first  swelling  of  the  buds,  when 
I  received  the  summons  to  Washington,  are  but  ill  re 
paid  by  any  credit  I  can  hope  to  obtain  by  the  faithful 
execution  of  the  duties  of  my  place,  in  which  the  occa 
sions  of  attracting  the  public  attention  are  very  rare.  I 
had  also  just  begun  to  be  at  ease  in  my  senatorial  chair, 
and  learned  to  consider  it  as  the  most  dignified  and  in 
dependent  situation  in  the  country." 


SECRETARY   OF   STATE. 

The  following  passage  from  a  letter  to  his  wife,  writ 
ten  after  he  had  been  a  month  in  office,  has  the  unmis 
takable  sound  of  audible  thinking :  — 

"  Here  I  am  in  the  second  place  in  the  United  States, 
—  some  say  the  first;  in  the  place  filled  by  Jefferson 
and  Madison  and  Monroe,  and  by  him  who  filled  it  be 
fore  any  of  them,  —  my  brother;*  in  the  place  gained  by 
Clay  at  so  great  a  sacrifice ;  in  the  very  easy-chair  of 
Adams ;  in  the  office  which  every  politician  looks  to  as  the 
last  step  but  one  in  the  ladder  of  his  ambition ;  in  the 
very  cell  where  the  great  magician,  they  say,  brewed  his 
spells.  Here  I  am  without  an  effort,  uncontrolled  by  any 
engagements,  unfettered  by  any  promise  to  party  or  to 
man ;  here  I  am  !  and  here  I  have  been  for  a  month.  I 
now  know  what  it  is  ;  am  I  happier  than  I  was  1  The 
question  is  not  easily  answered.  Had  the  bait  never  been 
thrown  in  my  way ;  had  I  been  suffered  to  finish  the  graft 
I  had  begun  when  your  letter  summoned  me  from  the 
country ;  had  I  been  permitted  to  stay  and  watch  its  growth 
until  the  fall,  to  wander  all  the  summer  through  the  walks 
you  had  planned,  to  see  my  daughter  improving  in  health 
and  spirits,  now  and  then  to  plan  a  picnic,  or  plague 
myself  in  the  vain  attempt  to  catch  a  trout,  to  have  ex 
claimed,  on  hearing  of  what  happened  here,  '  Among  them 
be  it ! '  and  taken  the  opinions  of  my  two  heads  of  depart 
ments,  Shoemaker  on  the  crop  of  wheat,  and  Owen  on 
the  celery-bed, — could -I  have  passed  my  summer  thus, 
and  taken  my  independent  seat  in  the  Senate  during  the 
winter,  I  could  then  have  answered  the  question  readily. 
But  the  temptation  was  thrown  in  my  way ;  the  prize  for 
which  so  many  were  contending  was  offered  to  me ;  the 
acceptance  of  it  was  urged  upon  me;  if  I  had  rejected 

*  The  Chancellor,  who  was  Secretary   of   Foreign  Affairs,  during  the 
Revolution,  from  1781  to  1783, 

46 


362  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

it,  I  think  it  would  have  been  a  source  of  regret  that 
would  have  made  me  undervalue  the  real  enjoyments  for 
which  I  refused  it, — -such  is  human  nature.  But,  as 
yet,  I  cannot  form  a  proper  judgment  of  the  value 
of  my  place,  —  my  wife  and  daughter  have  not  been 
with  me,  and  if  the  mental  exercise  and  laborious  at 
tention  it  requires  have  enabled  me  to  bear  the  solitude 
I  am  in,  they  will  turn  to  positive  enjoyment  when  you 
are  with  me ;  for  I  now  see  that  I  can  master  the 
difficulties  of  the  office,  and  although  they  will  be  in 
creased  during  the  session,  if  my  health  is  preserved,  I 
shall  not  fear  them. 

"  All  this  we  have  thought  and  said  a  hundred  times ; 
why  I  repeat  it  I  cannot  tell,  except  that,  running  in  my 
mind,  it  flowed  from  my  pen,  as  all  my  other  thoughts  do 
when  I  write  to  you." 

Mr.  Livingston,  now  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his 
age,  was  thus  committed  to  cares  and  labors  very  differ 
ent  from  the  occupation  of  watching  the  growth  of  buds 
at  Montgomery  Place.  The  reader  will  hardly  need  to 
be  told  that  the  many  state  papers  which  now  came  from 
his  pen  were  models  of  style  and  of  political  wisdom.  In 
a  letter  to  a  young  relative,  written  at  this  period,  he  said : 
"  I  work  harder  and  walk  farther  and  faster  than  any  man 
in  the  administration ;  and  by  bathing  in  cold  water  every 
morning,  I  keep  up  my  spirits  and  my  health.  Come  and 
see  how  rosy  it  makes  me." 

It  was,  indeed,  for  the  director  of  the  government's 
foreign  relations,  a  busy,  though  not  a  perplexing  year. 
Among  its  more  important  transactions  was  the  signing, 
by  Mr.  Rives,  of  a  treaty  with  the  French  government,  by 
which  France  undertook  to  pay,  in  six  annual  instalments, 
the  sum  of  twenty-five  million  francs,  in  satisfaction  of  the 
long-standing  claim  of  the  United  States  on  behalf  of 


SECRETARY   OF   STATE.  353 

their  citizens,  for  the  spoliations  suffered  under  the  Berlin 
and  Milan  decrees. 

An  acquaintance  of  the  writer,  W.  Coventry  H.  Wad- 
dell,  Esquire,  of  New  York,  occupied  at  this  period  a 
confidential  position  in  the  Department  of  State.  "  Long 
devoted,"  says  the  latter,  "both  politically  and  personally, 
to  Mr.  Van  Buren,  he  could  not  have  thought  of  asking 
me  to  do  anything  which  I  would  not  have  done  with  alac 
rity.  Always  kind,  considerate,  and  true,  there  was  still  in 
his  nature  a  certain  fence  of  reserve  which  I  felt  that  no 
one  could  pass.  But  when  Mr.  Livingston  came,  a  stran 
ger  to  me,  I  soon  found  that  his  heart  was  open  as  the 
day,  large,  sympathetic,  and  unsuspicious."  This  gentle 
man  describes  the  new  Secretary's  manner,  when  occupied 
in  official  labor,  as  one  of  intense  abstraction.  Walking  up 
and  down  his  room,  his  hands  behind  him,  his  shoulders 
stooping,  and  his  eyes  fixed  forward  and  downward,  the 
going  and  coming  of  his  subordinate  seemed  unheeded. 
It  was  a  common  thing  for  the  latter  to  withdraw  a  docu 
ment  from  under  the  very  paper  on  which  the  Secretary 
was  writing,  without  his  appearing  conscious  even  that 
any  person  was  present.  Sometimes  on  leaving  the  de 
partment  for  the  day,  when  an  important  subject  occupied 
his  mind,  Livingston  would  retain  all  the  way  on  the 
street  the  stooping  gait  and  abstracted  look  just  described, 
and  would  not  see  a  single  person,  though  he  might  pass 
many  acquaintances. 

The  same  gentleman  once  had  occasion  to  call  on  Mr. 
Livingston  at  his  house,  in  the  afternoon  of  a  day  when 
the  latter  had  not  appeared  at  the  department  since  morn 
ing.  He  found  Mrs.  Livingston  ready  to  drive  out  and 
waiting  for  her  husband,  who  soon  came  in. 

"  Where  is  the  carriage,  my  dear  ?  "  inquired  the  lady. 

"  I  don't  know,  I  am  sure,"  was  the  answer. 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

"  Why,  you  went  out  in  it,  did  you  not]"  she  asked  again. 

"Did  I,  my  dear]"  said  he,  reflecting;  "then  I  must 
have  come  out  by  the  western  door." 

In  fact,  he  had  gone  to  the  capitol  in  his  carriage, 
which  he  had  left  at  the  eastern  entrance ;  had  hecome 
interested  in  a  debate,  and  remained  most  of  the  day ; 
had  then  passed  out  by  the  western  steps,  and  walked 
home,  while  his  coachman,  patiently  or  otherwise,  was 
still  looking  in  vain  for  his  appearance.  An  explosion  of 
laughter  followed  his  detection  in  this  flagrant  abstraction. 

But  absence,  or  even  concentration  of  mind,  was  far 
from  being  his  constant  state.  His  duties,  though  per 
formed  with  his  habitual  industry  and  care,  were  for  him 
a  rather  easy  burden.  His  native  gayety  still  enlivened  his 
conversation  and  gleamed  in  his  private  correspondence ;  a 
good  pun  would  put  him  in  the  highest  glee.  His  friend 
Dallas,  in  the  same  letter  in  which  he  had  used  a  play  upon 
a  word  that  greatly  amused  the  Secretary,  inquired,  with 
serious  concern,  if  a  rumor  which  he  had  heard,  to  the  ef 
fect  that  one  of  his  political  friends  was  to  be  turned  out  of 
office,  was  true.  To  this  question  Livingston  replied :  — 

"  There  is  no  intention,  that  I  know  of,  to  displace  Mr. 
Shoemaker.  It  is  the  last  thing  I  should  think  of.  The 
story  is  vamped  up  to  give  uneasiness  to  his  friends,  and, 
were  there  no  other,  he  should  be  retained  for  the  sole 
reason  that  you  desire  it.  Those  who  have  raised  the  re 
port  deserved  to  be  strapped.  And  I  too  am  a  punster ; 
et  ego  in  Arcadia  ;  and  I  too  have  been  in  Philadelphia." 

Punning  was  a  feature  in  Livingston's  conversation,  all 
his  life ;  though  as  to  the  quality  of  his  attempts  of  this 
kind  he  was  never  very  nice  of  vain.  He  used  to  declare 
that  the  only  good  pun  he  had  ever  produced  was  while 
he  was  asleep.  He  had  dreamed  that  he  was  present  in  a 
crowded  church,  at  the  ceremony  of  the  taking  of  the  veil 


SECRETARY   OF   STATE.  S65 

by  a  nun.  The  novice's  name  was  announced  as  Mary 
Fish.  The  question  was  then  put,  who  should  be  her 
patron  saint.  "  I  woke  myself,"  said  Livingston,  "  by 
exclaiming,  '  Why,  St.  Poly  Carp,  to  be  sure  ! ' ' 

Yet  he  was  never  wanting  in  the  highest,  because  the 
simplest  dignity.  He  was  always  dressed  in  public  with 
care  and  a  strict  regard  to  the  proprieties  of  his  age  and 
position,  and  no  figure  could  be  more  respectable  than  that 
which  he  habitually  presented,  with  his  tall  form,  slightly 
bent  at  the  shoulders,  his  plain  dark  clothes,  his  white 
cravat,  his  carefully  shaven  face,  his  peaceful  dark  eyes, 
his  bold  forehead,  and  his  thin  black  hair,  scarcely  touched 
with  gray.  His  manner  of  living  and  of  entertaining 
guests  was  not  excelled  in  elegance,  if  equalled,  at  Wash 
ington.  In  this  his  wife  saved  him  all  manner  of  exer 
tion.  No  woman  could  be  better  qualified  to  preside  in 
such  a  house  than  she.  Having  possessed  striking  beauty 
while  young,  and  still  retaining  very  remarkable  dignity 
and  grace,  her  mind  was  as  extraordinary  as  her  manners 
and  person.  Unacquainted  with  the  English  language 
before  her  marriage  to  Mr.  Livingston,  she  had  learned 
it  mainly  out  of  the  English  classics,  and,  though  she 
always  continued  to  speak  it  with  a  marked  accent,  had 
acquired  a  complete  mastery  of  diction,  drawn  from  that 

"Well  of  English  undefyled," 

preferring  that  language,  as  she  declared,  for  all  purposes 
of  earnest  expression  over  her  mother-tongue.  Her  face, 
figure,  and  manners  were  entirely  feminine ;  yet  she  bore 
a  sway  as  complete  as  it  was  gentle  in  the  whole  circle  of 
her  acquaintance.  She  took  upon  herself  the  manage 
ment  of  all  household  business,  and  was,  at  the  same  time, 
her  husband's  most  trusted  counsellor  at  every  important 
step,  in  politics  or  in  life.  He  even  habitually  sought 
her  opinion  upon  what  he  wrote  relating  to  his  system  of 


366  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

penal  law.  Her  office  in  listening  to  these  productions 
she  wittily  compared  to  that  of  the  servant-maid  upon 
whom  Moliere  tried  the  effect  of  his  comedies  before  sub 
mitting  them  to  the  judgment  of  the  world. 

The  affectionate  and  ever  growing  confidence  with 
which  Livingston  was  accustomed  to  seek  the  counsel 
of  his  wife,  so  well  shown  in  two  letters  already  tran 
scribed  in  the  present  chapter,  may  be  further  illustrated 
by  extracts  from  others  of  his  letters  to  her  which  I  have 
seen.  In  one  of  these,  dated  soon  after  he  was  first  re 
turned  to  Congress  from  Louisiana,  this  passage  occurs : 
"  Could  you  for  a  moment  doubt,  my  best  friend,  that 
your  desire  would  be  decisive  with  me,  in  producing  ex 
ertions  that  no  other  motive  would  induce  me  to  make  ] 
I  well  know  and  have  always  duly  appreciated  the  mo 
tive  upon  which  all  your  wishes  with  respect  to  my  con 
duct  were  founded;  and  knowing  this  so  well,  much  hap 
pier  would  it  have  been,  had  I  always  followed  them. 
On  this  occasion,  although  I  am  more  than  ever  con 
vinced  of  the  justice  of  your  views,  I  sometimes  feel  less 
confidence  than  perhaps  I  ought  of  the  result ;  but  your 
judgment,  on  which  I  implicitly  rely,  encourages  and 
perhaps  will  make  me  what  you  think  I  may  and  ought 
to  be."  And  in  another,  enclosing  the  draught  of  a  com 
munication  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  to  which  the  re 
sponse  has  been  given  at  a  former  page,  he  wrote:  "Why 
are  you  not  with  me  1  I  want  your  society  always,  but 
now  I  want  your  counsel;  indeed,  I  want  that  always, 
too,  for  in  cases  where  I  doubt  before  I  decide,  I  am 
never  quite  sure  that  my  decision  is  right  until  you  have 
approved  it.  The  immediate  occasion  of  this  reflection 
is  the  enclosed  draft  ;  tell  me  whether  you  like  it, 
and,  if  you  do,  whether  I  had  not  better  send  it  in  French; 
and  if  you  think  so,  I  beg  you  to  send  me  a  translation." 


SECRETARY    OF   STATE. 

The  breaking  up  of  the  old  cabinet  having  taken  place 
during  the  vacation  of  Congress,  the  nominations  to  the 
new  one  came  up  for  confirmation  or  rejection  in  the 
Senate  on  its  meeting  in  December.  The  opposition, 
under  the  leadership  of  Clay,  was  disposed  to  use  any 
plausible  pretext  for  refusing  to  confirm  the  nomination 
by  the  President  of  his  peculiar  friends,  —  a  disposition 
easily  gratified,  as  the  members  of  the  opposition  were 
a  clear  majority.  The  rejection  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  as 
Minister  to  England,  as  well  as  its  political  consequences 
to  him  and  to  his  enemies,  is  well  known.  The  new  cabi 
net  officers  were  all  eventually  confirmed,  but  not  without 
hesitation  and  delay.  Mr.  Clay  moved  a  scrutiny  into 
the  circumstances  of  the  recent  settlement  of  accounts 
between  the  United  States  and  Mr.  Livingston.  A  very 
free,  informal  examination  of  those  circumstances  fol 
lowed.  George  M.  Dallas,  then  a  new  and  youthful 
senator  from  Pennsylvania,  supported  the  nomination  with 
great  dignity,  and  made  a  careful  and  thorough  state 
ment  to  the  Senate,  in  secret  session,  upon  the  strength 
of  an  investigation  made  by  himself,  and  upon  the  au 
thority  of  his  deceased  father,  Alexander  James  Dallas,* 
—  a  name  respected  by  every  senator, —  of  the  circum 
stances  under  which  the  claim  of  the  Government  against 
Livingston  had  arisen,  and  of  his  conduct  in  acknowledg 
ing  the  debt,  and  in  struggling  to  pay  it.  Mr.  Clay 
then  withdrew  his  motion,  declaring  himself  quite  satis 
fied  ;  j*  and  Mr.  Livingston's  confirmation,  as  Secretary 
of  State,  was  unanimous.  The  public  opinion  of  the 

*  The  elder  Dallas  had   been  an  Clay,  in  the  course  of  a  political  ha- 

intimate   acquaintance   of  Mr.   Liv-  rangue,   could   mention  his   name  as 

ingston  at  the  period  of  his  misfor-  that  of  a  common  defaulter,  and  even 

tune,  and  had  become  Secretary  of  couple  it  with  the    names  of  some 

the  Treasury  a  few  years  later.  of  the  most  notorious  of  unfaithful 

•f-  Yet  afterwards,  when  Livingston  public  servants, 
had  been  four  years  in  his  grave,  Mr. 


368  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

country,  to  which  the  achievements  and  misfortunes  of 
the  latter  were  known,  had  already  signally  and  without 
audible  dissent  approved  the  appointment. 

The  course  of  Livingston  on  this  occasion  was  very 
characteristic,  and  not  at  all  like  that  which  an  ordina 
ry  statesman,  not  to  say  politician,  would  be  expected, 
in  the  same  position,  to  pursue.  Though  well  aware 
that  the  investigation  was  going  on  in  the  Senate,  he 
took  no  step  to  supply  his  friends  with  the  facts  upon 
which  they  should  rely  in  his  support,  and  did  not  even 
mention  the  subject  beforehand  to  Senator  Dallas, 
who  he  knew  would,  if  necessary,  be  one  of  the  most 
zealous  of  his  defenders.  He  chose,  so  far  as  his  own 
action  went,  to  let  his  character  stand  alone,  and  his  con 
duct  speak  for  itself. 

The  judicial  independence  of  Mr.  Livingston  in  the 
conduct  of  his  office,  as  well  as  the  peremptory  suavity 
with  which  he  knew  how  to  exercise  it,  are  well  shown 
in  the  following  answer  to  an  application  for  place,  made, 
on  behalf  of  a  person  of  doubtful  qualifications,  by  a 
member  of  his  party  who  was  at  the  same  time  an  in 
coming  senator  and  a  personal  friend :  — 

"  Until  I  saw  your  protege,  Mr. ,  I  might  have 

been  inclined  to  recommend  him  for  a  consulate ;  but 
really  his  appearance  is  not  fitted  for  public  life.  Imagine 
him  in  a  consular  uniform,  marching  with  his  sword  drag 
ging  on  the  pavement,  to  a  national  entertainment.  He 
is  a  good  poet,  you  say,  and  novelist.  I  will  certainly 
believe  it ;  but  this  last  title  to  celebrity  has  convinced 
him,  most  unfortunately,  that  every  man  who  can  write 
a  good  novel  must  be  also  a  diplomatist.  The  consulate 
given  to  Cooper,  and  the  secretaryship  to  Irving,  are 
the  colors  in  Westminster  Hall  to  him ;  they  will  not  let 
him  sleep.  '  Tu  Dieu !  que  tu  es  dpre  a  la  curee,  Sei- 


SECRETARY   OF   STATE. 

gneur  Gil  BlasJ  I  was  tempted  to  say  to  him  twenty 
times.  He  wanted  new  consulates  created,  old  incum 
bents  removed,  and  I  believe,  if  I  had  given  him  the 
least  encouragement,  would  have  asked  to  be  a  minister, 
or  charge  d'affaires,  at  least.  Pray  try  and  dissuade 
him  from  this  pursuit,  in  which  success  would  only  make 
him  uncomfortable.  I  did  everything  I  could  to  make 
him  understand  that  his  chance  was  a  bad  one,  and  that 
his  literary  merit  would  be  obscured  by  mercantile  asso 
ciations  into  which  he  would  be  led  by  a  consulship ; 
but  I  fear  without  success." 

The  Secretary  observed  the  subsequent  course  of  this 
disappointed  aspirant  after  consular  honors,  and,  a  few 
months  later,  wrote  again  to  his  friend :  — 

"  I  see  that  your  protege  is  at  the  head  of  the  converts 
to  anti-Jacksonism.  What  a  pity  we  did  not  make  him 
a  consul!  His  recantation  will  be  literally  a  palinodea, 
and  be  given  in  rhyme." 

The  following  letter,  copied  from  the  draught  in  his 
handwriting,  exhibits  Livingston's  hearty  contempt  for 
the  mean  arts  of  political  partisanship,  and  comes  nearer 
expressing  the  common  sentiment  of  indignation  than 
almost  any  other  passage  that  I  have  noticed  from  his 
pen :  — 

"  Washington,  January  8,  1832. 

"  SIR  :  I  have  just  received  your  letter  of  the  30th 
December,  by  which  you  inquire  '  whether  my  depart 
ment  affords  any  evidence  that,  while  Mr.  Clay  was  a 
Minister  in  England,  he  received  the  usual  royal  present 
of  c£l£00  in  silver  plate.'  There  is  nothing,  Sir,  to 
show  this  in  my  department,  nor  have  I  ever  heard  the 
suggestion,  or  believe  there  is  the  slightest  foundation 
for  it. 

"  Under  this  conviction,  I  cannot  make  or  direct  any 

47 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

inquiries  which  would  show  an  injurious  suspicion  that 
I  do  not  entertain.  I  am  politically  opposed  to  Mr. 
Clay,  but  I  am  persuaded  he  would  never  have  done 
anything  that  could  justify  the  imputation ;  and  if  such  a 
report  is  current,  I  should  be  sorry  that  even  my  silence 
should  keep  it  alive.  I  am  persuaded,  Sir,  that  you  agree 
with  me  in  thinking  that  any  political  advantage,  how 
ever  great,  would  be  bought  too  dear,  if  obtained  by 
countenancing  such  calumnies  on  our  opponents. 

"  I  am  your  obedient  servant, 

"Eow.  LIVINGSTON. 

"  H.  MARSHALL,  Esq." 

Mr.  Livingston  appears  not  to  have  been  specially  iden 
tified  with  the  President's  policy  in  the  veto  of  the  United 
States  Bank,  though  yielding  to  that  policy  a  temperate 
approval.  The  latest  and  principal  biographer  of  Jack 
son  intimates  his  impression  that  the  message  vetoing  the 
bill  for  rechartering  the  institution  was  drawn  by  Liv 
ingston.*  This  is  an  error.  The  following  passage  of 
a  letter  written  by  him  to  Mr.  Dallas,  under  date  of 
August  26,  1832,  not  only  contradicts  the  contemporary 
rumor  to  that  effect,  but  betrays  a  real  sensitiveness  to 
the  supposition :  — 

"  The  veto,  I  find,  is  well  received.  The  measure 
could  not  have  been  avoided  ;  the  managers  of  the  bank 
drew  it  on  themselves,  and  they  were  forwarded  by  those 
who  thought  the  institution  necessary,  and  who  feared, 
what  has  come  to  pass,  that  the  pressure  of  the  question 
would  endanger  it  in  any  shape.  As  to  the  message,  I 
will  say  no  more  of  it  than  that  no  part  of  it  is  mine. 
This  is  a  great  piece  of  self-denial,  considering  the  ex 
travagant  applause  with  which  it  has  been  received  ; 

*  Parton,  Life  of  Jackson,  vol.  iii.  page  409. 


SECRETARY    OF    STATE. 

but  I  prefer  my  own  plain  feathers  to  those  of  any  pea 
cock,  and  I  therefore  to  you  disavow  any  participation 
in  framing  this  splendid  production,  which  has  received 
the  title  of  the  second  declaration  of  independence ;  but, 
wonderful  as  the  production  is,  I  am  astonished  (since 
the  most  perfect  composition,  and  the  best  arguments  are 
frequently  assailed) — I  am  astonished,  I  say,  that  this  has 
escaped  so  well.  There  are  arguments  in  it  that  an  in 
genious  critic  might  plausibly  expose,  and  I  am  glad  that 
it  has  only  been  nibbled  at  by  the  editors.  Is  this  con 
cert  \  Or  what  can  be  the  reason  of  this  forbearance  ?  I 
dreaded  an  immediate  attack.  Our  friends  have  lost  no 
time  in  taking  off  its  force,  by  anticipating  the  public 
opinion." 

Toward  the  end  of  the  same  year,  General  Jackson 
was  busy  with  the  nullifiers  of  South  Carolina.  He  now 
relied  upon  the  pen  that  had  served  him  oftenest  and 
best.  Among  the  private  papers  which  the  writer  has 
examined  in  the  course  of  preparing  this  volume,  is  the 
original  draught  of  the  celebrated  proclamation  of  the 
10th  of  December,  1832,  entirely  in  Livingston's  hand 
writing,  much  amended  by  erasures  and  interlineations, 
according  to  his  invariable  habit  in  all  but  epistolary  com 
positions.  During  the  progress  of  the  task,  he  received 
from  the  President  the  two  following  notes :  — 

"  For  the  Conclusion  of  the  Proclamation. 

"  Seduced  as  you  have  been,  my  fellow-countrymen,  by 
the  delusive  theories  and  misrepresentations  of  ambitious, 
deluded,  and  designing  men,  I  call  upon  you  in  the  lan 
guage  of  truth,  and  with  the  feelings  of  a  father,  to  re 
trace  your  steps.  As  you  value  liberty  and  the  blessings 
of  peace,  blot  out  from  the  page  of  your  history  a  record 
so  fatal  to  their  security  as  this  ordinance  will  become, 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

if  it  be  obeyed.  Rally  again  under  the  banners  of  the 
Union  whose  obligations  you,  in  common  with  all  your 
countrymen,  have,  with  an  appeal  to  Heaven,  sworn  to 
support,  and  which  must  be  indissoluble  as  long  as  we 
are  capable  of  enjoying  freedom. 

"  Recollect  that  the  first  act  of  resistance  to  the  laws 
which  have  been  denounced  as  void  by  those  who  abuse 
your  confidence  and  falsify  your  hopes  in  treason,  sub 
jects  you  to  all  the  pains  and  penalties  that  are  provided 
for  the  highest  offence  against  your  country.  Can  the 
descendants  of  the  Rutledges,  the  Pinckneys,  the  Rich- 
ardsons,  the  Middletons,  the  Sumpters,  the  Marions,  the 
Pickens.  the  Bratons,  the  Taylors,  the  Haynes,  the  Gads- 
dens,  the  Winns,  the  Hills,  the  Henshaws,  and  the  Craw- 
fords,  with  the  descendants  of  thousands  more  of  the  pa 
triots  of  the  Revolution,  that  might  be  named,  consent  to 
become  traitors  ]  Forbid  it,  Heaven  ! 

"  DEAR  SIR  :  I  submit  the  above  as  the  conclusion  of 
the  proclamation,  for  your  amendment  and  revision.  Let 
it  receive  your  best  flight  of  eloquence,  to  strike  to  the 
heart  and  speak  to  the  feelings  of  my  deluded  country 
men  of  South  Carolina.  The  Union  must  be  preserved 
without  blood,  if  this  be  possible;  but  it  must  be  pre 
served  at  all  hazards  and  at  any  price. 

"  Yours  with  high  regard, 

"  ANDREW  JACKSON. 

"  E.  LIVINGSTON,  Esq. 

"Dec.  4,  1832.     ii  o'clock  P.  M." 

"  Friday,  at  night,  Dec.  7th. 

"Mv  DEAR  SIR:  Major  Donelson,  having  finished  copy 
ing  the  sheets  handed  by  you  about  4  o'clock  p.  M.  to-day, 
is  waiting  for  the  balance.  Such  as  are  ready,  please 
send,  sealed,  by  the  bearer.  The  message  having  been 


SECRETARY   OF   STATE.  373 

made  public  on  the  4th,  it  is  desirable,  whilst  it  is  draw 
ing1  the  attention  of  the  people  in  South  Carolina,  that 
their  minds  should  be  drawn  to  their  real  situation,  be 
fore  their  leaders  can,  by  false  theories,  delude  them 
again.  Therefore  it  is  to  prevent  blood  from  being  shed 
and  positive  treason  committed,  that  I  wish  to  draw  the 
attention  of  the  people  of  South  Carolina  to  their  dan 
ger,  that  no  blame  can  attach  to  me  by  being  silent. 
From  these  reasons  you  can  judge  of  my  anxiety  to  have 
this  to  follow  the  message. 

"  Yours  respectfully, 

"  ANDREW  JACKSON. 

"  E.  LIVINGSTON,  Esq., 
"  Secretary  of  State." 

The  sentences  above  proposed  as  hints  for  the  conclu 
sion  of  the  proclamation  were,  I  think,  the  only  sugges 
tion  made  in  writing  by  General  Jackson  in  relation  to 
the  form  of  this  celebrated  state  paper,  though  he  did 
not  fail  orally  and  repeatedly  to  impress  upon  Mr.  Liv 
ingston  his  own  views  of  the  subject,  in  characteristically 
concise  and  emphatic  terms.  The  few  phrases  conceived 
by  the  President  were  not  used  by  the  Secretary.  The 
thoughts  they  embody  appear  here  and  there  in  the  fol 
lowing  closing  paragraphs  of  the  proclamation :  — 

"  Fellow-citizens  of  my  native  State,  let  me  not  only 
admonish  you,  as  the  first  magistrate  of  our  common 
country,  not  to  incur  the  penalty  of  its  laws,  but  use  the 
influence  that  a  father  would  over  his  children  whom  he 
saw  rushing  to  certain  ruin.  In  that  paternal  language, 
with  that  paternal  feeling,  let  me  tell  you,  my  country 
men,  that  you  are  deluded  by  men  who  are  either  deceived 
themselves  or  wish  to  deceive  you.  Mark  under  what 
pretences  you  have  been  led  on  to  the  brink  of  insurrec 
tion  and  treason,  on  which  you  stand !  First,  a  diminu- 


LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

tion  of  the  value  of  your  staple  commodity,  lowered  by 
over-production  in  other  quarters,  and  the  consequent 
diminution  in  the  value  of  your  lands,  were  the  sole  ef 
fect  of  the  tariff  laws. 

"  The  effect  of  those  laws  was  confessedly  injurious ; 
but  the  evil  was  greatly  exaggerated  by  the  unfounded 
theory  you  were  taught  to  believe,  that  its  burdens  were 
in  proportion  to  your  exports,  not  to  your  consumption 
of  imported  articles.  Your  pride  was  roused  by  the  as 
sertion  that  a  submission  to  those  laws  was  a  state  of  vas 
salage,  and  that  resistance  to  them  was  equal,  in  patriotic 
merit,  to  the  oppositions  our  fathers  offered  to  the  op 
pressive  laws  of  Great  Britain.  You  were  told  that  this 
opposition  might  be  peaceably,  might  be  constitutionally 
made ;  that  you  might  enjoy  all  the  advantages  of  the 
Union,  and  bear  none  of  its  burdens.  Eloquent  appeals 
to  your  passions,  to  your  State  pride,  to  your  native  cour 
age,  to  your  sense  of  real  injury,  were  used  to  prepare 
you  for  the  period  when  the  mask,  which  concealed  the 
hideous  features  of  disunion,  should  be  taken  off.  It  fell, 
and  you  were  made  to  look  with  complacency  on  objects 
which,  not  long  since,  you  would  have  regarded  with  hor 
ror.  Look  back  to  the  arts  which  have  brought  you  to 
this  state ;  look  forward  to  the  consequences  to  which  it 
must  inevitably  lead !  Look  back  to  what  was  first  told 
you  as  an  inducement  to  enter  into  this  dangerous  course. 
The  great  political  truth  was  repeated  to  you,  that  you 
had  the  revolutionary  right  of  resisting  all  laws  that  were 
palpably  unconstitutional  and  intolerably  oppressive ;  it 
was  added  that  the  right  to  nullify  a  law  rested  on  the 
same  principle,  but  that  it  was  a  peaceable  remedy !  This 
character  which  was  given  to  it  made  you  receive,  with 
too  much  confidence,  the  assertions  that  were  made  of  the 
unconstitutionally  of  the  law  and  its  oppressive  effects. 


SECRETARY  OF   STATE.  375 

Mark,  my  fellow-citizens,  that,  by  the  admission  of  your 
leaders,  the  unconstitutionally  must  be  palpable,  or  it  will 
not  justify  either  resistance  or  nullification  !  What  is  the 
meaning1  of  the  word  palpable  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is 
here  used  1  That  which  is  apparent  to  every  one ;  that 
which  no  man  of  ordinary  intellect  will  fail  to  perceive. 
Is  the  unconstitutionally  of  these  laws  of  that  descrip 
tion  \  Let  those  among  your  leaders  who  once  approved 
and  ^advocated  the  principle  of  productive  duties  answer 
the  question ;  and  let  them  choose  whether  they  will  be 
considered  as  incapable,  then,  of  perceiving  that  which 
must  have  been  apparent  to  every  man  of  common  under 
standing,  or  as  imposing  upon  your  confidence  and  en 
deavoring  to  mislead  you  now.  In  either  case,  they  are 
unsafe  guides  in  the  perilous  path  they  urge  you  to  tread. 
Ponder  well  on  this  circumstance,  and  you  will  know  how 
to  appreciate  the  exaggerated  language  they  address  to 
you.  They  are  not  champions  of  liberty,  emulating  the 
fame  of  our  Revolutionary  fathers ;  nor  are  you  an  op 
pressed  people,  contending,  as  they  repeat  to  you,  against 
worse  than  colonial  vassalage. 

"  You  are  free  members  of  a  flourishing  and  happy 
Union.  There  is  no  settled  design  to  oppress  you.  You 
have  indeed  felt  the  unequal  operation  of  laws  which  may 
have  been  unwisely,  not  unconstitutionally  passed  ;  but 
that  inequality  must  necessarily  be  removed.  At  the  very 
moment  when  you  were  madly  urged  on  to  the  unfortu 
nate  course  you  have  begun,  a  change  in  public  opinion 
had  commenced.  The  nearly  approaching  payment  of  the 
public  debt,  and  the  consequent  necessity  of  a  diminution 
of  duties,  had  already  produced  a  considerable  reduction, 
and  that,  too,  on  some  articles  of  general  consumption  in 
your  State.  The  importance  of  this  change  was  under 
rated,  and  you  were  authoritatively  told  that  no  further 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

alleviation  of  your  burdens  was  to  be  expected,  at  the  very 
time  when  the  condition  of  the  country  imperiously  de 
manded  such  a  modification  of  the  duties  as  should  reduce 
them  to  a  just  and  equitable  scale.  But,  as  if  apprehen 
sive  of  the  effect  of  this  change  in  allaying  your  discon 
tents,  you  were  precipitated  into  the  fearful  state  in  which 
you  now  find  yourselves. 

"I  have  urged  you  to  look  back  to  the  means  that  were 
used  to  hurry  you  on  to  the  position  you  have  now  as 
sumed,  and  forward  to  the  consequences  it  will  produce. 
Something  more  is  necessary.  Contemplate  the  condition 
of  that  country  of  which  you  still  form  an  important  part. 
Consider  its  government,  uniting  in  one  bond  of  common 
interest  and  general  protection  so  many  different  States,  — 
giving  to  all  their  inhabitants  the  proud  title  of  American 
citizens,  protecting  their  commerce,  securing  their  litera 
ture  and  their  arts,  facilitating  their  intercommunication, 
defending  their  frontiers,  and  making  their  name  re 
spected  in  the  remotest  parts  of  the  earth.  Consider  the 
extent  of  its  territory ;  its  increasing  and  happy  popula 
tion  ;  its  advance  in  arts,  which  render  life  agreeable ;  and 
the  sciences,  which  elevate  the  mind !  See  education 
spreading  the  lights  of  religion,  morality,  and  general 
information  into  every  cottage  in  this  wide  extent  of  our 
Territories  and  States!  Behold  it  as  the  asylum  where 
the  wretched  and  the  oppressed  find  a  refuge  and  support ! 
Look  on  this  picture  of  happiness  and  honor,  and  say, 
WE,  TOO,  ARE  CITIZENS  OF  AMERICA  !  Carolina  is  one 
of  these  proud  States ;  her  arms  have  defended,  her  best 
blood  has  cemented,  this  happy  Union !  And  then  add, 
if  you  can,  without  horror  and  remorse,  This  happy  Union 
we  will  dissolve ;  this  picture  of  peace  and  prosperity  we 
will  deface ;  this  free  intercourse  we  will  interrupt ;  these 
fertile  fields  we  will  deluge  with  blood ;  the  protection  of 


SECRETARY    OF   STATE. 

that  glorious  flag  we  renounce ;  the  very  name  of  Ameri 
cans,  we  discard.  And  for  what,  mistaken  men,  —  for 
what  do  you  throw  away  these  inestimahle  blessings  ? 
For  what  would  you  exchange  your  share  in  the  advan 
tages  and  honor  of  the  Union  1  For  the  dream  of  sepa 
rate  independence,  —  a  dream  interrupted  by  bloody  con 
flicts  with  your  neighbors,  and  a  vile  dependence  on  a 
foreign  power.  If  your  leaders  could  succeed  in  estab 
lishing  a  separation,  what  would  be  your  situation  ?  Are 
you  united  at  home  ?  are  you  free  from  the  apprehension 
of  civil  discord,  with  all  its  fearful  consequences  I  Do 
our  neighboring  republics,  every  day  suffering  some  new 
revolution,  or  contending  with  some  new  insurrection,  — 
do  they  excite  your  envy'?  But  the  dictates  of  a  high 
duty  oblige  me  solemnly  to  announce  that  you  cannot 
succeed.  The  laws  of  the  United  States  must  be  exe 
cuted.  I  have  no  discretionary  power  on  the  subject; 
my  duty  is  emphatically  pronounced  in  the  Constitution. 
Those  who  told  you  that  you  might  peaceably  prevent 
their  execution  deceived  you ;  they  could  not  have  been 
deceived  themselves.  They  know  that  a  forcible  opposi 
tion  could  alone  prevent  the  execution  of  the  laws ;  and 
they  know  that  such  opposition  must  be  repelled.  Their 
object  is  disunion  :  but  be  not  deceived  by  names ;  dis 
union,  by  armed  force,  is  TREASON.  Are  you  really  ready 
to  incur  its  guilt  ?  If  you  are,  on  the  heads  of  the  insti 
gators  of  the  act  be  the  dreadful  consequences ;  on  their 
heads  be  the  dishonor,  but  on  yours  may  fall  the  punish 
ment.  On  your  unhappy  State  will  inevitably  fall  all  the 
evils  of  the  conflict  you  force  upon  the  government  of 
your  country.  It  cannot  accede  to  the  mad  project  of 
disunion,  of  which  you  would  be  the  first  victims ;  its  first 
magistrate  cannot,  if  he  would,  avoid  the  performance  of 
his  duty.  The  consequence  must  be  fearful  for  you,  dis- 

48 


378  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

tressing  to  your  fellow-citizens  here,  and  to  the  friends 
of  good  government  throughout  the  world.  Its  enemies 
have  beheld  our  prosperity  with  a  vexation  they  could  not 
conceal ;  it  was  a  standing  refutation  of  their  slavish  doc 
trines,  and  they  will  point  to  our  discord  with  the  triumph 
of  malignant  joy.  It  is  yet  in  your  power  to  disappoint 
them.  There  is  yet  time  to  show  that  the  descendants  of 
the  Pinckneys,  the  Sumters,  the  Rutledges,  and  of  the 
thousand  other  names  which  adorn  the  pages  of  your  Rev 
olutionary  history,  will  not  abandon  that  Union  to  support 
which  so  many  of  them  fought,  and  bled,  and  died. 

"  I  adjure  you,  as  you  honor  their  memory,  as  you  love 
the  cause  of  freedom,  to  which  they  dedicated  their  lives, 
as  you  prize  the  peace  of  your  country,  the  lives  of  its 
best  citizens,  and  your  own  fair  fame,  to  retrace  your 
steps.  Snatch  from  the  archives  of  your  State  the  dis 
organizing  edict  of  its  convention ;  bid  its  members  to 
reassemble,  and  promulgate  the  decided  expressions  of 
your  will  to  remain  in  the  path  which  alone  can  conduct 
you  to  safety,  prosperity,  and  honor.  Tell  them,  that, 
compared  to  disunion,  all  other  evils  are  light,  because 
that  brings  with  it  an  accumulation  of  all.  Declare  that 

o 

you  will  never  take  the  field  unless  the  star-spangled  ban 
ner  of  your  country  shall  float  over  you ;  that  you  will 
not  be  stigmatized  when  dead,  and  dishonored  and  scorned 
while  you  live,  as  the  authors  of  the  first  attack  on  the 
Constitution  of  your  country.  Its  destroyers  you  cannot 
be.  You  may  disturb  its  peace ;  you  may  interrupt  the 
course  of  its  prosperity ;  you  may  cloud  its  reputation 
for  stability:  but  its  tranquillity  will  be  restored;  its  pros 
perity  will  return ;  and  the  stain  upon  its  national  charac 
ter  will  be  transferred,  and  remain  an  eternal  blot  on  the 
memory  of  those  who  caused  the  disorder. 

"  Fellow-citizens  of  the   United   States,  the  threat  of 


SECRETARY    OF    STATE.  3*79 

unhallowed  disunion,  the  names  of  those,  once  respected, 
by  whom  it  is  uttered,  the  array  of  military  force  to  sup 
port  it,  denote  the  approach  of  a  crisis  in  our  affairs  on 
which  the  continuance  of  our  unexampled  prosperity,  our 
political  existence,  and  perhaps  that  of  all  free  govern 
ments  may  depend.  The  conjuncture  demanded  a  free,  a 
full,  and  explicit  enunciation,  not  only  of  my  intentions, 
but  of  my  principles  of  action ;  and,  as  the  claim  was  as 
serted  of  a  right  by  a  State  to  annul  the  laws  of  the  Union, 
and  even  to  secede  from  it  at  pleasure,  a  frank  exposition 
of  my  opinions  in  relation  to  the  origin  and  form  of  our 
government,  and  the  construction  I  give  to  the  instrument 
by  which  it  was  created,  seemed  to  be  proper.  Having  the 
fullest  confidence  in  the  justness  of  the  legal  and  consti 
tutional  opinion  of  my  duties  which  has  been  expressed, 
I  rely,  with  equal  confidence,  on  your  undivided  support 
in  my  determination  to  execute  the  laws,  to  preserve  the 
Union  by  all  constitutional  means,  to  arrest,  if  possible, 
by  moderate  but  firm  measures,  the  necessity  of  a  re 
course  to  force,  and,  if  it  be  the  will  of  Heaven  that 
the  recurrence  of  its  primeval  curse  on  man  for  the  shed 
ding  of  a  brother's  blood  should  fall  upon  our  land,  that 
it  be  not  called  down  by  any  offensive  act  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States. 

"  Fellow-citizens,  the  momentous  case  is  before  you. 
On  your  undivided  support  of  your  government  depends 
the  decision  of  the  great  question  it  involves,  whether 
your  sacred  Union  will  be  preserved,  and  the  blessings  it 
secures  to  us  as  one  people  shall  be  perpetuated.  No  one 
can  doubt  that  the  unanimity  with  which  that  decision  will 
be  expressed  will  be  such  as  to  inspire  new  confidence  in 
republican  institutions,  and  that  the  prudence,  the  wisdom, 
and  the  courage  which  it  will  bring  to  their  defence  will 
transmit  them  unimpaired  and  invigorated  to  our  children. 


380  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

"  May  the  Great  Huler  of  nations  grant  that  the  signal 
blessings  with  which  he  has  favored  ours  may  not,  by  the 
madness  of  party  or  personal  ambition,  be  disregarded 
and  lost ;  and  may  his  wise  Providence  bring  those  who 
have  produced  this  crisis  to  see  their  folly  before  they  feel 
the  misery  of  civil  strife,  and  inspire  a  returning  venera 
tion  for  that  Union  which,  if  we  may  dare  to  penetrate 
his  designs,  he  has  chosen  as  the  only  means  of  attaining 
the  high  destinies  to  which  we  may  reasonably  aspire." 

Having  read  the  obviously  candid  but  somewhat  vague 
statement  communicated  by  Major  Lewis  to  Mr.  Parton,* 
to  the  effect  that  General  Jackson,  on  examining  Mr.  Liv 
ingston's  draught,  informed  the  latter  that  he  had  not  cor 
rectly  understood  his  notes  in  some  particulars,  and  that 
certain  parts  of  the  paper  must  be  altered,  which  was 
accordingly  done  by  the  Secretary,  I  compared  the  actual 
proclamation,  word  for  word,  with  the  draught  in  Living 
ston's  handwriting,  in  order  to  see  what  were  the  correc 
tions  which  had  been  thus  suggested.  There  is  no  varia 
tion  between  them,  except  some  verbal  amendments  such 
as  so  painstaking  a  writer  would  have  been  sure  to  make 
while  reading  the  printer's  proof,  and  except  one  change, 
of  materiality,  in  the  paragraph  next  to  the  last,  which,  in 
the  draught,  reads  as  follows :  — 

"  My  countrymen !  the  whole  of  the  momentous  case 
is  before  you.  On  your  concord,  on  your  undivided  sup 
port,  depends  the  decision  of  the  great  question  it  involves. 
Public  opinion  everywhere  is  powerful ;  here  it  is  omnipo 
tent.  If  you  should  decide  —  fatally,  in  my  opinion,  de 
cide — that  a  State  may  annul  an  act  of  Congress  or  recede 
from  the  Union,  if  even  any  important  part  of  the  nation 
should  concur  in  the  Carolina  doctrines  on  this  subject,  it 
cannot  change  my  conviction  of  duty  or  prevent  my  at- 

*  Vide  Life  of  Jackson,  vol.  iii.  page  466. 


SECRETARY    OF   STATE.  381 

tempts  to  execute  it,  though  it  may  render  those  attempts 
inefficient.  But  if,  as  I  trust,  only  one  spirit  shall  per 
vade  the  nation,  and  that  spirit  shall  inspire  a  cry  from 
Maine  to  Louisiana  that  the  Union  must  be  preserved,  the 
voice  will  be  obeyed,  the  Union  will  be  preserved ;  we 
shall  still  be  a  nation,  respected  the  more  for  the  decision 
we  shall  have  shown  in  a  time  of  no  common  danger. 
New  confidence  will  be  inspired  in  republican  institutions, 
and  we  may  yet  hope  to  hand  them  down  to  our  children 
unimpaired,  preserved,  invigorated  by  our  prudence,  our 
wisdom,  and  courage  in  their  defence.  Unanimity  and  a 
strong,  unequivocal  expression  of  it,  may  avert  the  evils 
that  threaten  us.  Madness  only  could  inspire  our  brethren 
to  persevere  in  principles  which  a  universal  reprobation 
of  the  Union  should  condemn  as  unsound,  and  a  contest 
for  the  support  of  which  they  must  perceive  to  be  ut 
terly  hopeless." 

The  amendments  on  the  face  of  the  manuscript  are 
all  purely  philological,  and  such  as  Mr.  Livingston  habit 
ually  and  constantly  made,  as  has  before  been  stated,  in 
the  draughts  of  all  compositions  except  ordinary  letters. 
The  alteration  of  the  above  penultimate  paragraph  I  take, 
then,  to  be  the  one  and  the  only  one  made  in  this  paper, 
on  the  suggestion  of  the  President.  How  such  an  amend 
ment  came  to  be  required,  seems  almost  too  obvious  to  be 
stated.  As  to  what  might  be  the  final  issue  of  the  con 
troversy  between  South  Carolina  and  the  Federal  Govern 
ment,  as  influenced  by  the  possible  public  opinion  of  the 
country,  the  mind  of  the  Secretary  could  contemplate  and 
state  two  opposite  hypotheses,  while  the  more  dogmatic 
intellect  of  the  President  could  neither  imagine  nor  admit 
but  one. 

While  Livingston  was  thus  performing  these  highest 
and  most  active  functions  at  home,  the  European  reputa- 


382  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

tion  of  his  criminal  code  was  fast  ripening-.  In  the  spring 
of  1833,  he  was  chosen  foreign  associate  of  the  Institute 
of  France  (Academy  of  Moral  and  Political  Sciences). 
This  distinction,  which  has  always  been  sparingly  con 
ferred,  which  few  Americans  have  reached,  and  which 
even  monarchs  can  only  attain  through  the  double  merit 
of  genius  and  industry,  he  had  not  sought. 

A  popular  rumor  had  now  assigned  the  French  mission 
to  Mr.  Livingston,  from  month  to  month,  for  more  than  a 
year ;  *  the  government  had  a  most  important  errand  with 
which  to  charge  him ;  his  personal  inclination  began  to 
point  strongly  toward  going  abroad  ;  and  the  invitations 
which  he  received  from  Europe  were  most  persuasive. 
Among  the  latter  was  the  following  letter  which  I  tran 
scribe  entire,  as  the  other  matters  it  contains  are  not 
without  interest :  — 

"  Paris,  December  8,  1832. 

"•My  DEAR  SIR  :  I  have  been  requested  by  the  young 
Duke  of  Brunswick  to  forward  the  enclosed  letter,  and 
transmit  your  answer  wherever  the  persecutions  of  which 
he  is  the  object  may  at  the  time  oblige  him  to  make  his 
abode. 

"  That  the  young  man  has  been  rather  wild  in  his  duke 
dom  I  easily  believe ;  but  the  coalition  of  princes  against 

*  The  following  characteristic  pas-  have  a  most  able  coadjutor.  Doiv- 

sage  occurs  in  a  postscript  of  a  letter  dies,  dowdies  won't  do  for  European 

which,  in  March  1832,  Mr.  Living-  courts, —  Paris  especially.  There 

ston  received  from  the  celebrated  and  at  London  the  character  of  the 

John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke: —  Minister's  lady  is  almost  as  impor- 

"  If  General  Jackson  does  not  kill  tant  as  his  own.  It  is  the  very  place 

the  bank,  the  bank  will  kill  him.  Let  for  her.  There  she  would  dazzle 

me  conjure  you  to  lay  this  matter  at  and  charm  ;  and  surely  the  salons  of 

heart,  and  accept,  not  the  Chiltcrn  Paris  must  have  far  greater  attrac- 

Hundreds,  but  the  mission  to  France,  tions  for  her  than  the  yahoos  of 

for  which  you  are  better  qualified  Washington.  If  I  had  not  lost  the 

than  any  man  in  the  United  States,  facility  of  speaking  French  by  long 

In  Mrs.  Livingston,  to  whom  pre-  disuse,  I  should  like  it  of  all  things." 
sent  my  warmest  respects,  you  would 


SECRETARY   OF   STATE.  383 

him  is  owing,  not  to  previous  errors,  but  to  diplomatic 
intrigue  and  the  popular  sentiments  he  has  manifested. 
He  has  been  lately  expelled  from  France,  agreeably  to  a 
wicked  alien  bill  which  I  have  opposed  with  all  my  might, 
and  is  determined  to  go  to  law,  by  the  counsel  of  Odillon 
Barrot,  Mauguin,  and  Comte,  my  colleagues,  the  latter  of 
whom  will  plead  his  cause,  in  his  capacity  of  an  oppressed 
man.  He  has  entreated  my  support,  which  I  very  readily 
give  him. 

"  It  seems  to  me  the  money  placed  by  him  in  the 
United  States  is  out  of  the  reach  of  monarchical  juntos 
or  resolves  of  the  Frankfort  diet.  But  my  legal  knowl 
edge  is  not  so  complete  as  to  give  him  a  definitive  an 
swer.  You  are,  as  Secretary  of  State  and  a  lawyer,  the 
best  oracle  to  whom  he  may  apply. 

"  You  know,  my  dear  friend,  I  have  made  it  a  point  not 
to  intrude  upon  the  authorities  within  the  United  States, 
namely,  that  of  Congress  and  the  Executive,  with  special 
applications.  I  could  not,  however,  circumstanced  as  the 
munificence  of  Congress  has  made  me,  forbear  to  express 
my  feelings  in  the  case  of  the  Rochambeau  family  and  a 
few  remaining  officers  of  the  French  army.  Had  I  the 
honor  of  a  seat  in  either  House,  I  would  submit  to  my 
colleagues  the  propriety  of  doing  something  in  behalf  of 
the  application,  and  even  of  the  very  scanty  number  of 
men  in  the  same  case.  But  it  only  belongs  to  me  to  im 
part  the  sentiments  to  a  confidential  friend. 

"  I  refer  you  to  the  public  papers  for  an  account  of 
transactions  and  dispositions  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
The  system  of  the  revolution  of  July  is  overpowered  at 
Court  and  in  the  Houses  by  the  system  called  of  the  13th 
March,  which  amounts  to  a  return  to  the  principles  of  the 
charter  of  1814*,  to  the  benefit  of  Louis  Philippe  and  an 
aristocracy,  not  of  birth,  but  of  property  and  money.  Yet 


384  LIFE  OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

the  spirit  of  '89  and  1830  is  living  in  many  hearts,  and 
shall  ultimately  triumph,  not  only  in  France,  hut  through 
out  Europe.  The  enclosed  short  speeches  will  give  you 
an  idea  of  what  passes  in  Holland  and  Italy. 

"  The  reelection  of  the  President  will  set  you  at  liberty 
to  make  a  choice  between  the  secretaryship  and  the  French 
legation ;  from  what  you  was  writing  to  me  some  time 
ago,  I  think  I  may  cherish  the  hope  to  see  you  here. 
With  what  affection  and  pleasure  I  hope  it  is  superfluous 
to  say. 

61  Present  my  best  respects  and  affectionate  sentiments 
to  the  President.  Remember  me  most  affectionately  to 
family  and  friends,  and  believe  me  what  I  have  been  for 
fifty-five  years, 

"  Your  grateful  and  loving  friend, 

"  LAFAYETTE." 

In  April,  1833,  the  daughter  and  only  surviving  child 
of  Mr.  Livingston  was  married  to  Thomas  P.  Barton, 
Esquire,  of  Philadelphia.  Immediately  after  the  mar 
riage  ceremony,  the  President,  upon  offering  his  congratu 
lations,  announced  to  the  latter  that  Mr.  Livingston  would 
soon  go  to  reside  in  France  as  Minister,  and  that  he  had 
selected  the  new  member  of  his  family  for  Secretary  of 
the  legation. 

It  was  during  the  first  year  of  Mr.  Livingston's  service 
in  the  cabinet,  that  M.  de  Tocqueville  visited  the  United 
States,  charged  with  the  official  errand  of  practically  ex 
amining  our  penitentiary  system,  —  a  visit  which  resulted, 
as  all  the  world  knows,  in  profound  studies  of  a  more 
general  nature.  The  Secretary  of  State  at  once  perceived 
the  enlightened  genius  of  the  youthful  foreigner,  enter 
tained  him  often,  opened  to  him  freely  the  stores  of  his 
own  information,  showered  upon  him  such  documents  as 


SECRETARY   OF   STATE.  385 

he  needed,  and  gave  him  all  possible  facilities  in  the  pros 
ecution  of  his  various  inquiries.  This  service,  the  latter, 
upon  publishing  the  work  which  soon  afterwards  gave  ce 
lebrity  to  his  name,  acknowledged  in  a  conspicuous  and  ex 
clusive  manner.  At  the  foot  of  one  of  his  earliest  pages, 
de  Tocqueville  declares  that  "among  the  official  persons  /  Su  ^ 
in  America  who  favored  my  researches,  I  should,  above  '••''• 
all,  mention  Mr.  Edward  Livingston,  then  Secretary  of 
State  (now  Minister  Plenipotentiary  at  Paris).  During 
my  sojourn  at  the  capital,  Mr.  Livingston  had  the  kind 
ness  to  cause  to  be  sent  me  most  of  the  documents  which 
I  possess  relating  to  the  Federal  Government.  Mr.  Liv 
ingston  is  one  of  those  rare  men  whom  one  loves  in  read 
ing  what  they  have  written,  whom  one  admires  and  hon 
ors  even  before  knowing  them,  and  to  whom  one  is  happy 
in  owing  a  debt  of  gratitude." 

49 


CHAPTER    XVII. 
MINISTER    TO    FRANCE. 

Unsuccessful  Attempts  by  Mr.  Livingston  to  keep  a  Diary — Extracts  — 
Appointment  to  the  French  Mission — Voyage  to  France —  Objects  of  the 
Mission— Active  Exertions  of  Mr.  Livingston — The  Treaty  of  July  4,  1831 
— Failure  to  fulfil  it  by  the  French  Government —  Efforts  of  the  King,  and 
Opposition  by  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  —  A  .Draft  for  Money  drawn  by 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  upon  the  French  Minister  of  Finance— Refusal 
to  pay  it  by  the  latter— Failure  of  the  Necessary  Appropriation  in  the  Cham 
ber  of  Deputies  —  Irritation  evinced  by  President  Jackson  —  Message  to 
Congress — Effect  of  the  Message  in  France  —  Offer  of  Passports  to  Mr. 
Livingston — His  Refusal  to  accept  them  unless  ordered  to  leave  by  the 
Government — Elaborate  Letter  to  the  Comte  de  Rigny  —  Approval  of 
his  Course  by  the  President  —  Conditional  Appropriation  by  the  Deputies 
of  the  Money  due  the  United  States  —  Mr.  Livingston  demands  Pass 
ports —  His  Parting  Address  to  the  Due  de  Broglie  —  His  Continued  At 
tention  to  the  Subject  of  Penal  Legislation  —  Increase  of  his  Reputation 
as  a  Publicist  —  Letters  from  Villemain  and  Victor  Hugo  —  His  Efforts 
to  promulgate  his  System  —  Letter  to  the  Howard  Society  of  New  Jersey 
—  Death  of  Lafayette  —  Last  Letter  from  the  General  —  Journey  through 
Switzerland  and  Germany  —  De  Sellon's  Monument  —  Anecdote  of  Mit- 
termaier — Livingston's  Social  Traits  and  Temper — His  Correspondence 
with  Public  Men  —  Letter  to  his  Sister — Farewell  to  Davezac  —  The 
Homeward  Voyage —  Popular  Reception  at  New  York  —  Public  Dinners, 
etc.  —  Unanimous  Approbation  in  America  of  Livingston's  Conduct  of  the 
Mission  —  Defiant  Sentiment  of  the  Nation  toward  France — Speech  of 
John  Quincy  Adams  —  The  President's  Approval  of  Livingston's  Course. 

TWICE  during  his  life  Mr.  Livingston  undertook 
to  keep  a  diary.  He  failed  each  time,  after  a  short 
trial,  —  not  of  course  from  any  lack  of  methodical  indus 
try,  but,  as  I  think,  for  want  of  that  natural  egotism, 
which,  when  a  really  great  man  possesses  it,  always  lends 
a  lively  charm  to  his  memoirs. 

The  first  of  these  attempts  was  begun  on  the  day  of  his 


MINISTER    TO   FRANCE. 


387 


arrival  at  Washington  to  undertake  the  Secretaryship  of 
State,  and  abandoned  on  the  day  of  his  induction  into  the 
office.  The  last  entry  made  by  him  in  this  book  is, — 
"  May  24.  This  day  received  my  commission  as  Secre 
tary  of  State,  and  entered  on  the  duties  of  the  office. 
God  grant  that  I  may  exercise  them  to  the  good  of  my 
country !  "  The  other  entries  are  the  briefest  possible 
memoranda,  and  not  much  more  than  a  record  of  the 
dates  of  his  correspondence.  From  them  it  appears  that 
he  habitually  wrote  as  many  as  from  ten  to  fifteen  letters 
daily. 

The  next  year  he  commenced  a  fresh  experiment  of 
the  same  kind,  and  with  a  similar  result.  His  new  book 
opens  thus : — 

"Better  late  than  never, — March  10,  1832.  I  bought 
this  book,  I  am  ashamed  to  say  how  long  ago,  for  the 
purpose  of  keeping  a  kind  of  journal  of  official  and  pri 
vate  and  political  business  and  events,  all  blended  togeth 
er  ;  but  I  have  never  yet  found  time  to  begin  it.  Now  I 
have  less  leisure  than  ever;  but,  as  I  every  day  regret 
that  I  have  not  made  memorandums  of  this  kind,  I  will 
try  to  execute  my  purpose." 

Some  retrospective  entries  finish  the  page,  after  which 
all  that  follows,  for  a  period  of  several  months,  I  tran 
scribe  :  — 

"  On  the  29th  day  of  May,  1833,  I  resigned  the  office 
of  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States,  which  I  had 
held  since  the  24th  May,  1831,  and  the  same  day  re 
ceived  the  appointment  of  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Min 
ister  Plenipotentiary  to  France.  A  few  days  after  this,  I 
received  my  instructions  arid  left  Washington  to  prepare 
for  my  departure.  On  receiving  my  resignation,  the 
President  addressed  me  a  letter  in  which  he  adverts  in 
the  most  flattering  terms  to  military  services  with  him 


388  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

in  the  New  Orleans  campaign,  as  well  as  to  my  manage 
ment  of  the  Department  of  State. 

"On  the — of  July,  I  met  the  President  at  New 
York,  on  his  way  to  Boston.  He  expressed  great  anx 
iety  for  my  speedy  departure  ;  and,  as  some  delay  had 
occurred  in  fitting  out  the  Delaware,  ship  of  the  line,  in 
which  it  had  been  arranged  that  I  should  be  conveyed 
to  my  destination,  I  determined  to  take  one  of  the  packets 
from  New  York,  intending  to  have  gone  on  the  16th; 
but,  some  disappointment  in  my  private  arrangements 
having  intervened,  I  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  say 
ing  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  get  ready  before 
the  24th,  (by  which  day  it  was  confidently  asserted  that 
the  Delaware  would  sail  from  the  Chesapeake,)  and  that 
I  would  be  ready  to  go  on  board  as  soon  as  she  could 
come  to  New  York  to  receive  me.  I  made  my  prepa 
rations  accordingly,  and  arrived  in  New  York  a  week 
before  the  ship  came  in.  She  was  detained  there  until  the 
14th  of  August;  on  which  day,  having  taken  leave  of 
my  relations  and  friends,  I  embarked  with  my  family. 
A  salute  was  fired  on  my  coming  on  board,  and  the 
noble  ship  spread  her  sails  and  stood  immediately  out  to 
sea.  This  is  the  first  time  I  have  taken  leave  of  my 
native  land.  Whatever  favorable  anticipations  may  be 
formed  of  a  residence  abroad  as  the  representative  of 
our  country  when  the  period  of  leaving  it  is  yet  at  a 
distance,  yet  as  it  approaches  they  give  way  to  sensations 
by  no  means  so  pleasing.  Grief  on  parting  with  rela 
tives  and  friends,  whom  you  may  probably  never  again 
meet;  misgivings  of  your  own  ability  to  manage  the  im 
portant  national  concerns  intrusted  to  you ;  apprehen 
sions  of  leaving  undone  some  matter  of  importance  to 
yourself  or  others;  and,  finally,  the  feeling  that  compre 
hends  most  of  the  others,  that  painful  one  attending  a 


MINISTER   TO    FRANCE.  38Q 

separation  from  your  native  country  for  an  uncertain 
period, —  these  are  some  of  the  drawbacks  from  the 
satisfaction  I  should  otherwise  feel  in  undertaking-  the 
honorable  mission  that  has  been  assigned  to  me.  Some 
years  before  this  they  would  have  been  but  slight  deduc 
tions  from  the  anticipated  pleasure  I  should  have  en 
tertained  ;  but  I  am  now  sixty-nine  years  of  age,  and, 
although  I  enjoy  uninterrupted  health  of  body,  and,  as 
far  as  I  can  myself  judge,  an  unimpaired  intellect,  yet 
change  of  scene  and  an  acquaintance  with  new  actors  in 
it  have  lost  much  of  their  charm  for  me.  But,  to  com 
pensate  for  this,  I  go  under  advantages  I  should  have 
had  at  no  other  period  of  my  life.  The  station  I  have 
filled  at  home  gives  me  some  political  importance,  and 
the  success  of  my  publications  on  penal  law,  which  has 
procured  me  the  unsolicited  admission  to  the  French  In 
stitute,  has  given  me  a  literary  reputation,  certainly  be 
yond  my  merits,  but  which  must  add  greatly  both  to 
my  personal  gratification  and  to  the  consideration  of  my 
country. 

"On  the  12th  September,  1833,  we  entered  the 
port  of  Cherbourg,  after  a  most  agreeable  voyage  of 
twenty-eight  days.  Fine  weather,  excellent  accommo 
dations,  and,  above  all,  the  unremitted  attentions  and 
agreeable  society  of  Captain  Ballard,  and  the  other  offi 
cers  of  the  Delaware,  made  us  forget  that  we  were  at 
sea.  Our  arrival  was  a  few  days  too  late  for  the  enjoy 
ment  of  a  scene  that  would  have  been  quite  new  to  us : 
the  King  and  royal  family  had  just  left  this  port,  where 
they  had  been  met  by  the  Royal  Yacht  Club  of  England, 
with  their  beautiful  vessels." 

Five  pages  more  of  brief  notes  of  conversations,  din 
ners,  etc.,  entered  at  irregular  intervals,  close  this  second 
and  last  fragment  of  a  diary.  He  whose  industry  never 


390  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

flagged  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  nor  in  the  service 
of  others,  —  whether  his  clients,  his  country,  or  humanity, 
—  could  not  persevere  in  the  task,  which  many  find  so 
easy  to  themselves  and  make  so  interesting  to  others,  of 
recording  merely  personal  incidents  and  observations. 

Livingston  enjoyed  the  general  novelty  of  what  he  now 
saw,  with  all  the  fresh  interest  of  a  young  traveller.  Paris 
and  the  Parisians,  the  theatres  and  gardens,  the  progress 
of  science  and  art,  the  government,  the  army,  the  people, 
persons,  society,  all  pass  in  review  in  his  letters  to  friends 
at  home.  No  ardent,  youthful  American  democrat  could 
have  found  more  complete  comfort  in  a  comparison  of 
the  institutions  of  France  with  those  of  the  United  States 
than  he  did. 

There  would  have  been  some  excuse  for  him,  if,  at  his 
time  of  life,  with  the  growing  fame  he  enjoyed,  the  novel 
scenes  which  surrounded  and  interested  him,  and  the  flat 
tering  notice  he  received  from  some  of  the  most  eminent 
men  and  most  agreeable  societies  of  Europe,  he  had 
satisfied  his  conscience  by  a  languid  attention  to  the 
business  of  his  mission.  But  he  entered  upon  that  busi 
ness  and  persevered  in  its  discharge,  at  the  sacrifice  of  his 
comfort  and  the  risk  of  his  popularity  in  France,  with  all 
the  spirit  and  assiduity  of  a  young  diplomatist,  whose  for 
tune  might  depend  upon  his  specific  success.  I  am  writ 
ing  after  the  perusal  of  the  original  draughts  of  upwards 
of  ninety  despatches  which  he  addressed  to  the  Secretary 
of  State  at  Washington,  detailing,  from  mail  to  mail,  his 
exertions,  his  conversations  with  the  King,  the  Ministers, 
and  members  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  his  .fears,  hopes, 
and  impressions.  He  had  been  sent  to  effect  two  objects: 
the  payment  of  the  large  sum  secured  by  treaty,  of  which 
a  part  was  then  overdue  from  the  French  government 
to  his  own,  and,  that  accomplished,  the  negotiation  of  a 


MINISTER   TO   FRANCE. 

new  treaty  readjusting  the  commercial  relations  of  the 
two  countries. 

The  claim  of  the  United  States  for  indemnity  on  ac 
count  of  French  spoliations,  under  the  Berlin  and  Milan 
decrees,  notwithstanding  its  pretty  clear  original  merits, 
had  hecome,  before  its  settlement  by  the  treaty  of  July 
4,  1831,  —  negotiated  at  Paris  by  Mr.  Rives, — a  rather 
stale  demand.  Louis  Philippe,  acquiescing  in  its  justice, 
had  signed  that  treaty,  fixing  the  indebtedness  of  his  gov 
ernment  to  that  of  the  United  States  at  the  sum  of  twen 
ty-five  million  francs,  payable,  with  interest,  in  six  yearly 
instalments.  This  was  all  the  King  could  do.  The 
action  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  was  required,  in  order 
to  appropriate  the  money.  Whether  such  action  could 
be  secured  at  all,  and,  if  so,  when  would  be  the  most 
propitious  occasion  for  broaching  the  subject  to  the  Cham 
ber,  were  matters  of  uncertainty  and  royal  anxiety.  His 
Majesty's  ministers  did  not  venture  to  have  inserted  in 
the  annual  budget  the  amount  of  the  first  instalment, 
when  it  was  about  to  fall  due,  notwithstanding  that  the 
United  States  had  proceeded,  in  fulfilment  of  a  provision 
in  the  treaty,  immediately  to  modify  their  tariff  by  a 
reduction  of  duties  upon  French  wines, — a  beneficial 
change  which  that  nation  had  ever  since  enjoyed.  And 
so  no  provision  was  made  for  the  payment  which  had 
been  solemnly  stipulated  for  in  the  treaty,  and  which 
became  due  on  the  £d  of  February,  1833. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Mr.  McLane,  to  whose 
discretion  Congress  had  by  law  confided  the  mode  of 
transacting  the  business  of  receiving  the  money,  assum 
ing  that  the  payment  would  be  made,  drew,  according 
to  a  previous  notice,  a  bill  of  exchange  for  the  amount 
of  the  first  instalment,  dated  the  7tn  °f  February,  ad 
dressed  to  the  French  Minister  of  Finance,  and  sold  the 


LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

draft,  in  accordance  with  the  forms  of  mercantile  busi 
ness,  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  The  bank  trans 
ferred  it  to  a  European  holder,  who  caused  it  to  be  pre 
sented  to  the  Minister  to  whom  it  was  directed.  The 
latter  declined  the  payment,  stating,  as  a  reason,  that  no 
appropriation  for  the  purpose  had  been  made;  and  the 
paper  was  returned,  duly  protested,  to  Mr.  McLane. 
This  was  the  immediate  occasion  for  the  appointment 
of  Livingston  to  the  French  mission,  which  had  been 
vacant  since  the  return,  in  1831,  of  Mr.  Rives, — the 
intermediate  appointment  of  Mr.  Harris  as  Charge 
d 'Affaires  having  been  intended  only  as  a  temporary 
measure. 

After  a  most  flattering  reception  by  the  King  and 
royal  family,  Mr.  Livingston  proceeded  at  once  to  busi 
ness,  and  vigorously  urged  an  early  and  special  convoca 
tion  of  the  Chambers,  in  order  that  a  law  for  the  execu 
tion  of  the  treaty  might  be  presented.  The  King  would 
gladly  have  complied,  but  a  reluctance  to  meeting  the 
question  before  the  deputies,  and  perhaps  even  before  a 
portion  of  the  cabinet,  suggested  to  his  mind  paramount 
reasons  for  delay  till  the  regular  session,  and,  even  then, 
for  studying  to  find  a  favorable  opportunity  to  broach  an 
unpleasant  subject.  But  strong  and  constant  verbal  as 
surances  were  given  to  Mr.  Livingston  that  the  King  and 
Cabinet  had  the  subject  much  at  heart,  and  that  the  neces 
sary  measure  would  be  presented  at  the  coming  regular 
session,  and  would  doubtless  be  successful. 

The  King  was  right  in  apprehending  a  formidable  re 
sistance  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  All  the  elements 
of  opposition  to  the  government  readily  combined  to 
represent  the  treaty  as  one  which  ought  not  to  have  been 
made,  and  one  in  which  the  American  government  had 
gained  an  undue  advantage,  such  as  the  Chamber  was  not 


MINISTER   TO   FRANCE.  393 

bound  to  carry  into  effect.  All  arguments  based  upon  tbe 
binding  force  of  the  contract  seemed  to  be  of  no  avail, 
and  tbe  expediency  of  executing  it  was  wbat  even  tbe 
friends  of  tbe  measure  chiefly  relied  upon  in  tbe  discus 
sions  to  which  it  gave  rise.  Livingston  watched  keenly 
all  that  was  said  by  the  French  journals, on  the  subject, 
actively  canvassed  the  opinions  of  members  of  the  Cham 
ber,  and,  in  conversation,  furnished  various  arguments 
to  the  friends  of  the  measure  to  prove  its  expediency, 
while,  in  his  official  intercourse  with  the  government,  he 
was  careful  to  insist  only  on  the  absolute  and  solemn 
obligation  of  the  treaty. 

The  pretext  that  Mr.  Rives  had  gained  an  advantage  in 
the  negotiation,  as  to  the  amount  due  to  tbe  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  was  manifestly  disingenuous  ;  because  the 
French  government,  ever  since  the  occurrence  of  the 
spoliations,  had  been  in  possession  of  every  document 
necessary  to  show  full  particulars  of  all  the  trespasses 
complained  of  by  the  United  States.  These  documents 
were  the  original  ship's  papers  of  the  vessels  captured, 
and  the  proces  verbaux  and  records  of  legal  proceedings 
which  indicated  exactly  the  gross  and  net  proceeds  of  the 
several  cargoes  disposed  of  under  the  two  decrees.  In 
deed,  the  government  of  the  United  States  was  com 
pletely  dependent  upon  that  of  France  for  the  precise  in 
formation  revealable  by  these  documents,  in  order  to  be 
able  to  make  an  equitable  division  of  the  sum  to  be  re 
ceived  among  its  various  claimants ;  for  which  reason  the 
production  of  tbe  documents  was,  by  a  distinct  article  of 
the  treaty,  made  as  binding  upon  France  as  was  the  pay 
ment  of  the  money.  For  French  statesmen  to  say  that 
the  Americans  had  secured  an  undue  advantage  in  the  set 
tlement  of  the  amount  to  be  paid,  was,  therefore,  as  un 
reasonable  as  for  a  person,  playing  at  cards,  with  a  full 
50 


394  LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

knowledge  of  both  his  adversary's  hand  and  his  own,  to 
complain  that  he  was  outwitted.  Yet  there  was  in  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  a  large  body  which,  though  com 
posed  of  several  parties  incapable  of  coalescing  in  any 
thing  but  a  factious  opposition  to  a  feeble  government, 
readily  united  in  insisting  loudly  that  the  King  had  weakly 
acceded  to  an  exorbitant  demand,  and  that  the  representa 
tives  of  the  nation  ought  not  to  ratify  an  agreement  thus 
made.  The  members  who  took  this  ground  succeeded  in 
placing  their  country  for  a  time  in  the  false  attitude  of  a 
reluctant  and  unscrupulous  debtor,  looking  out  for  causes 
of  affront  which  might  excuse  the  refusal  or  neglect  to 
pay  a  debt  distinctly  liquidated  after  more  than  twenty 
years  of  deliberation  and  delay. 

General  Jackson,  throughout  the  affair,  evinced  much 
impatience  and  irritation  at  the  course  pursued  by  the 
French  government.  An  indiscreet  minister,  possessing 
the  influence  with  the  President  which  Livingston  enjoyed, 
would,  I  think,  inevitably  have  got  the  two  nations  em 
broiled.  He  succeeded  in  vindicating  signally  the  rights 
and  dignity  of  his  country,  while  circumspectly  guarding 
the  way  to  the  peaceful  solution  which  followed. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  refusal  by  the  French  govern 
ment  to  pay  the  draft  of  Mr.  McLane  for  the  first  instal 
ment,  the  Ministry  had  not  ventured  to  ask  the  Chamber 
of  Deputies  to  make  the  necessary  appropriation,  though 
that  body  had  been  for  several  months  in  session.  Such 
an  application  was  made  a  few  weeks  after  the  draft  had 
been  dishonored ;  but  the  Chamber  then  only  found  time 
to  read  the  bill  and  refer  it  to  a  committee.  At  a 
later  session  in  the  same  year  another  bill  for  the  same 
object  was  introduced  with  a  similar  result.  Not  till 
April,  1834*,  after  Livingston  had  been  for  six  months 
in  Paris,  constantly  pressing  the  subject  upon  the  notice 


MINISTER   TO   FRANCE.  395 

of  the  French  government,  was  the  definitive  action  of  the 
Chamber  upon  the  measure  obtained  ;  and  then  its  deci 
sion,  by  a  majority  of  eight,  was  a  refusal  to  make  the 
appropriation. 

The  King  immediately  despatched  a  corvette  with  in 
structions  to  his  Minister  at  Washington  to  make  assur 
ances  to  our  government  that  the  new  Chamber  of  Depu 
ties  should  be  called  together  as  soon  after  the  election  of 
its  members  as  the  charter  would  permit ;  that  the  projet 
de  loi  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  treaty  should  be  laid  before 
them  ;  that  all  the  constitutional  powers  of  the  King  and 
the  Cabinet  should  be  exerted  to  carry  it ;  and  that  the  re 
sult  should  be  made  known  early  enough  to  enable  the 
President  to  communicate  it  to  Congress  in  the  annual 
message. 

Nevertheless,  His  Majesty  did  not  find  it  convenient  to 
bring  the  subject  before  the  new  Chamber  at  its  summer 
session,  nor  previously  to  the  assembling  of  Congress,  —  a 
delay  which  gave  rise  to  a  more  palpable  cause  of  affront 
to  the  dignity  of  the  French  nation  than  had  existed  in 
the  supposed  indecorum  of  drawing  a  bill  of  exchange  for 
money  which  was  overdue.*  The  President,  in  his  an 
nual  message  of  December,  1834*,  recited  the  whole  his 
tory  of  the  affair  in  very  concise  and  plain  terms,  and 
proceeded  bluntly  to  recommend  that  the  United  States 
should  take  redress  into  their  own  hands,  and  that  the 
Executive  might  be  authorized  to  make  reprisals  upon 
French  property,  in  case  no  provision  should  be  made  for 
payment  of  the  debt  at  the  then  approaching  session  of 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies. 

*  The  drawing  of  the  bill  of  ex-  tions  between  nations  should  be  con- 
change    by    our    Secretary    of    the  ducted   with  other   ceremonies   than 
Treasury  ewas    an   unusual    and   in-  those   which  are   proper  among   in 
decorous    proceeding.       There    are  dividuals  and  traders, 
good  reasons  why  financial  transac- 


396  LIFE   OT   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

News  of  the  contents  of  the  message  reached  France 
on  the  8th  of  January,  and  produced  there  intense  and 
general  excitement,  which  was  heightened  by  an  indiscreet 
publication    on   the   part  of   our    government    about    the 
same  time  of  a  portion  of  Mr.   Livingston's  confidential 
despatches,  detailing  some  conversations  with  and  friendly 
suggestions  made  by  the  King.     The  pride  of  the  nation 
was  now  aroused  and  protested  loudly  against  making  any 
payment  under  what  it  chose  to  regard  as  a  national  men 
ace  on  the  part  of  the  United  States.     The  King  and  his 
ministers   were   sorely  perplexed.      On   the    13th  of  the 
month,    Mr.    Livingston    received    from    the    Comte   de 
Rigny,   Minister    of  Foreign    Affairs,    a    communication 
which,    after     commenting    at    length    and    in    an    acrid 
tone    upon    the    President's    message    to    Congress,    in 
formed  him  that  His  Majesty's  government  was  prepar 
ing  to  present  a  bill  for  giving  sanction  to  the  treaty  when 
the  strange  message  of  December  1st  came  and  obliged 
it  again  to  deliberate  on  what  course  it  should  pursue ; 
that,  though  deeply  wounded  by  imputations  to  which  the 
Comte  would  not  give  a  name,  the  government  did  not 
wish  to   retreat  absolutely   from  a  determination  already 
taken,  in  a  spirit  of  good  faith  and  justice  ;   that  it  would 
still,  notwithstanding  the  difficulties  caused  by  the  provo 
cation  which  President  Jackson  had  given  and  the  irrita 
tion  it  had  produced  upon  the  public  mind,  ask  the  Cham 
ber  of  Deputies  for  the   appropriation  ;  but   that,  at  the 
same  time,  His  Majesty  had  considered  it  due  to  his  own 
dignity  no   longer  to  leave  his  Minister  at  Washington, 
exposed  to  hear  language  so  offensive  to  France  ;   that  M. 
Serrurier   would    therefore   be    ordered    home ;    that   the 
whole  of  this  communication  was  made  in  order  that  Mr. 
Livingston  might  take  those  measures  which  might  seem 
to   be   its   natural   consequences;    and   that  the  passports 


MINISTER   TO   FRANCE.  397 

which   Mr.  Livingston   might   desire    were,  therefore,  at 
his  disposition. 

On  receiving  this  note,  Mr.  Livingston's  first  impres 
sion,  according  with  his  strong  personal  inclination,  was 
that  he  ought  to  demand  his  passports  and  leave  France ; 
hut,  after  reflection,  he  determined  to  await  instructions 
from  the  President,  and,  in  the  mean  time,  keep  aloof 
from  the  King  and  his  ministers.  He  immediately  wrote 
to  the  Comte  de  Rigny,  that,  if  the  note  of  the  latter  was 
intended  as  an  intimation  of  the  course  which,  in  the 
opinion  of  His  Majesty's  government,  he  ought  to  pursue 
as  the  natural  result  of  M.  Serrurier's  recall,  he  could 
take  no  directions  or  follow  no  suggestions  hut  those  of 
his  own  government  which  had  sent  him  there  to  repre 
sent  it ;  hut  if  it  was  intended  as  a  direction  that  he  should 
quit  the  French  territory,  he  would  comply  with  it  at 
once,  leaving  the  responsibility  where  it  ought  to  belong. 
At  the  same  time,  he  promised  a  full  answer  to  the 
"  grave  matter  "  in  the  body  of  the  minister's  note.  In 
taking  this  course,  Livingston  submitted  to  a  severe  sac 
rifice  of  personal  feeling,  the  sense  of  which  he  strongly 
expressed  in  his  despatches  and  private  letters. 

The  answer  which  he  promised  to  the  body  of  the 
Comte  de  Rigny's  note  was  immediately  prepared,  and 
delivered  before  the  end  of  the  month,  while  he  remained 
without  any  instructions,  and  uncertain  what  the  views  of 
the  President  would  be.  This  paper,  produced  under 
circumstances  of  such  difficulty,  is  a  masterpiece  of  rea 
soning,  of  eloquence,  and  of  temper.  Referring  to  the 
complaints  in  the  Comte  de  Rigny's  note  of  the  terms 
used  by  the  President  in  the  message,  which  he  informs 
His  Majesty's  ministers  was  not  addressed  directly  to 
them,  he  proceeds  to  make  the  following  point  against  the 
fastidious  Frenchman  :  — 


398  LIFE    OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

"  I  shall  endeavor,  by  a  plain  exposition  of  facts,  to 
repel  those  charges  ;  I  shall  examine  them  with  the  free 
dom  the  occasion  requires,  hut,  suppressing-  the  feelings 
which  some  parts  of  your  Excellency's  letter  naturally 
excite,  will,  as  far  as  possible,  avoid  all  those  topics  for 
recrimination  which  press  upon  my  mind.  The  observa 
tion  I  am  about  to  make  will  not  be  deemed  a  departure 
from  this  rule,  because  it  is  intended  to  convey  informa 
tion  which  seems  to  have  been  wanted  by  His  Majesty's 
minister  when,  on  a  late  occasion,  he  presented  a  law  to 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  It  is  proper,  therefore,  to 
state,  that,  although  the  military  title  of  General  was  glori 
ously  acquired  by  the  present  head  of  the  American  gov 
ernment,  he  is  not,  in  official  language,  designated  as 
General  Jackson,  but  as  '  the  President  of  the  United 
States,'  and  that  his  communication  was  made  in  that 
character." 

The  body  of  this  letter  is  a  detailed  and  spirited  vindi 
cation  of  the  President  and  of  his  message,  against  the 
several  criticisms  in  the  French  minister's  note,  yet  its 
final  tone  is  an  ingenious  appeal  for  the  preservation  of 
peace.  The  following  are  its  closing  paragraphs  :  — 

"I  have  no  mission,  Sir,  to  offer  any  modification  of 
the  President's  communication  to  Congress  ;  and  I  beg 
that  what  I  have  said  may  be  considered  with  the  reserve 
that  I  do  not  acknowledge  any  right  to  demand,  or  any 
obligation  to  give,  explanations  of  a  document  of  that 
nature.  But  the  relations  which  previously  existed  be 
tween  the  two  countries,  a  desire  that  no  unnecessary 
misunderstanding  should  interrupt  them,  and  the  tenor 
of  your  Excellency's  letter,  (evidently  written  under 
excited  feeling,)  all  convinced  me  that  it  was  not  incom 
patible  with  self-respect  and  the  dignity  of  my  country 
to  enter  into  the  detail  I  have  done.  The  same  reasons 


MINISTER   TO   FRANCE.  399 

induce  me  to  add,  that  the  idea,  erroneously  entertained, 
that  an  injurious  menace  is  contained  in  the  message, 
has  prevented  your  Excellency  from  giving  a  proper 
attention  to  its  language.  A  cooler  examination  will 
show,  that,  although  the  President  was  ohliged,  as  I  have 
demonstrated,  to  state  to  Congress  the  engagements 
which  had  been  made,  and  that  in  his  opinion  they  had 
not  been  complied  with,  yet,  in  a  communication  not 
addressed  to  His  Majesty's  government,  not  a  disrespect 
ful  term  is  employed,  nor  a  phrase  that  his  own  sense  of 
propriety,  as  well  as  the  regard  which  one  nation  owes 
to  another,  would  induce  him  to  disavow.  On  the  con 
trary,  expressions  of  sincere  regret  that  circumstances 
obliged  him  to  complain  of  acts  that  disturbed  the  har 
mony  he  wished  to  preserve  with  a  nation  and  govern 
ment  to  the  high  character  of  which  he  did  ample  jus 
tice. 

"  An  honorable  susceptibility  to  everything  that  may, 
in  the  remotest  degree,  affect  the  honor  of  the  country, 
is  a  national  sentiment  of  France ;  but  you  will  allow, 
Sir.  that  it  is  carried  too  far  when  it  becomes  impatient 
of  just  complaint,  when  it  will  allow  none  of  its  acts  to 
be  arraigned,  and  considers  as  an  offence  a  simple  and 
correct  examination  of  injuries  received,  and  as  an  insult 
a  deliberation  on  the  means  of  redress.  If  it  is  forbid 
den,  under  the  penalty  of  giving  just  cause  of  offence, 
for  the  different  branches  of  a  foreign  government  to 
consult  together  on  the  nature  of  wrongs  it  has  received, 
and  review  the  several  remedies  which  the  law  of  nations 
presents  and  circumstances  justify,  then  no  such  consul 
tation  can  take  place  in  a  government  like  that  of  the 
United  States,  where  all  the  proceedings  are  public,  with 
out  at  once  incurring  the  risk  of  war,  which  it  would  be 
the  very  object  of  that  consultation  to  avoid." 


400  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

Livingston  now  felt  a  keen  anxiety  to  hear  an  approval 
of  his  conduct  by  the  President  and  people  at  home,  for 
which  he  was  obliged  to  wait  until  late  in  March.  Under 
date  of  the  8th  of  that  month,  Mr.  Van  Buren  wrote  to 
him  :  — 

"  Mr.  Forsyth  met  me  this  morning  at  the  President's 
with  your  last  letter  to  de  Rigny,  and  we  went  through  it 
very  deliberately.  I  could  not  express  myself  too  strongly 
for  the  opinion  I  really  entertain  of  its  merits.  Remem 
ber  what  I  say  to  you,  that  hereafter,  when  the  correspond 
ence  is  published,  it  will  be  selected  from  the  mass  as 
giving  the  clearest,  the  strongest,  and  the  best-tempered 
views  of  the  matters  in  controversy.  The  General,  as 
well  as  Forsyth,  was  delighted  with  it." 

The  President  officially  informed  Mr.  Livingston,  not 
only  that  his  course  was  warmly  approved,  as  wise  and 
patriotic,  but  that,  if  he  had  chosen  to  follow  his  incli 
nation  and  abandon  the  mission,  and  had  quitted  France 
with  the  whole  legation,  that  course  would  not  have 
surprised  or  displeased  the  President.  As  it  was,  he 
was  directed,  if  the  appropriation  should  be  rejected,  to 
leave  France  in  a  United  States  ship  of  war,  with  all 
the  legation  ;  but,  if  the  appropriation  should  be  made, 
to  retire  to  England  or  Belgium,  leaving  Mr.  Barton 
as  Charge  d"  Affaires,  and  to  await  further  instructions. 

The  Chamber  of  Deputies  soon  determined  to  appro 
priate  the  money,  but,  at  the  same  time,  to  vindicate 
what  it  chose  to  consider  the  offended  dignity  of  the 
nation.  The  bill  was  therefore  passed  on  the  18th  of 
April,  with  a  proviso  that  the  payment  should  not  be 
made  until  the  French  government  should  have  received 
satisfactory  explanations  of  the  terms  used  by  the  Presi 
dent  in  his  annual  message. 

For   such   a  posture    of    affairs   Mr.    Livingston's    in- 


MINISTER   TO   FRANCE. 

structions  did  not  provide,  and  he  was  obliged  again  to 
rely  upon  his  own  judgment  in  determining  upon  an 
important  step,  which  was,  to  demand  his  passports  and 
come  home,  leaving  Mr.  Barton  at  Paris  as  Charge  a" 
Affaires.  He  signalized  his  departure  by  a  communi 
cation  addressed  to  the  Due  de  Broglie,  the  Minister 
of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  in  which  office  he  was 
the  successor,  as  he  had  been  the  predecessor,  of  the 
Comte  de  Rigny.  This  paper,  expressly  conceived 
with  a  view  to  keeping  open  a  door  of  peace  between 
the  two  countries,  contains  the  following  piece  of  thor 
ough  argumentation  and  plain  speaking :  — 

"  The  President,  as  the  chief  executive  power,  must 
have  a  free  and  entirely  unfettered  communication  with 
the  coordinate  powers  of  the  government.  As  the  or 
gan  of  intercourse  with  other  nations,  he  is  the  only 
source  from  which  a  knowledge  of  our  relations  with  them 
can  be  conveyed  to  the  legislative  branches.  It  results 
from  this,  that  the  utmost  freedom  from  all  restraint,  in 
the  details  into  which  he  is  obliged  to  enter  of  interna 
tional  concerns  and  of  the  measures  in  relation  to  them, 
is  essential  to  the  proper  performance  of  this  important 
part  of  his  functions.  He  must  exercise  them  without 
having  continually  before  him  the  fear  of  offending  the 
susceptibility  of  the  powers  whose  conduct  he  is  obliged 
to  notice.  In  the  performance  of  this  duty,  he  is  subject 
to  public  opinion  and  his  own  sense  of  propriety  for  an 
indiscreet,  to  his  constituents  for  a  dangerous,  and  to  his 
constitutional  judges  for  an  illegal,  exercise  of  the  power; 
but  to  no  other  censure,  foreign  or  domestic.  Were  any 
foreign  powers  permitted  to  scan  the  communications  of 
the  Executive,  their  complaints,  whether  real  or  affected, 
would  involve  the  country  in  continual  controversies ; 
for,  the  right  being  acknowledged,  it  would  be  a  duty 
51 


402  LIFE   OF  EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

to  exercise  it,  by  demanding  a  disavowal  of  every  phrase 
they  might  deem  offensive,  and  an  explanation  of  every 
word  to  which  an  improper  interpretation  could  be  given. 
The  principle,  therefore,  has  been  adopted,  that  no  foreign 
power  has  a  right  to  ask  for  explanations  of  anything 
that  the  President,  in  the  exercise  of  his  functions,  thinks 
proper  to  communicate  to  Congress,  or  of  any  course  he 
may  advise  them  to  pursue.  This  rule  is  not  applicable 
to  the  government  of  the  United  States  alone,  but,  in 
common  with  it,  to  all  those  in  which  the  constitutional 
powers  are  distributed  into  different  branches.  No  such 
nation,  desirous  of  avoiding  foreign  influence,  or  foreign 
interference  in  its  councils,  —  no  such  nation,  possessing 
a  due  sense  of  its  dignity  and  independence,  can  long 
submit  to  the  consequences  of  this  interference.  When 
these  are  felt,  as  they  soon  will  be,  all  must  unite  in 
repelling  it,  and  acknowledge  that  the  United  States  are 
contending  in  a  cause  common  to  them  all,  and  more 
important  to  the  liberal  governments  of  Europe  than 
even  to  themselves ;  for  it  is  too  obvious  to  escape  the 
slightest  attention,  that  the  monarchies  of  Europe  by 
which  they  are  surrounded  will  have  all  the  advantage 
of  this  supervision  of  the  domestic  councils  of  their 
neighbors,  without  being  subject  to  it  themselves.  It  is 
true,  that,  in  the  representative  governments  of  Europe, 
executive  communications  to  legislative  bodies  have  not 
the  extension  that  is  given  to  them  in  the  United  States, 
and  that  they  are,  therefore,  less  liable  to  attack  on  that 
quarter.  But  they  must  not  imagine  themselves  safe. 
In  the  opening  address,  guarded  as  it  commonly  is,  every 
proposition  made  by  the  Ministry,  every  resolution  of 
either  Chamber,  will  offer  occasions  for  the  jealous  in 
terference  of  national  punctilio ;  for  all  occupy  the  same 
grounds.  No  intercommunication  of  the  different  branches 


MINISTER   TO   FRANCE.  403 

of  government  will  be  safe  ;  and  even  the  courts  of  jus 
tice  will  afford  no  sanctuary  for  the  freedom  of  decision 
and  of  debate ;  and  the  susceptibility  of  foreign  powers 
must  be  consulted  in  all  the  departments  of  government. 
Occasions  for  intervention  in  the  affairs  of  other  coun 
tries  are  but  too  numerous  at  present,  without  opening 
another  door  to  encroachments  ;  and  it  is  no  answer  to 
the  argument  to  say  that  no  complaints  will  be  made  but 
for  reasonable  cause,  and  that  of  this  the  nation  com 
plained  of  being  the  judge,  no  evil  can  ensue.  But  this 
argument  concedes  the  right  of  examining  the  commu 
nications  in  question,  which  is  denied  :  allow  it,  and  you 
will  have  frivolous  as  well  as  grave  complaints  to  answer, 
and  must  not  only  heal  the  wounds  of  a  just  national 
pride,  but  apply  a  remedy  to  those  of  a  morbid  suscepti 
bility.  To  show  that  my  fear  of  the  progressive  nature 
of  these  encroachments  is  not  imaginary,  I  pray  leave 
to  call  your  Excellency's  attention  to  the  enclosed  report 
from  the  Secretary  of  State  to  the  President.  It  is 
offered  for  illustration,  not  for  complaint.  I  am  in 
structed  to  make  none.  Because  the  government  of 
France  has  taken  exceptions  to  the  President's  opening 
message,  the  Charge  d' Affaires  of  France  thinks  it  his 
duty  to  protest  against  a  special  communication,  and  to 
point  out  the  particular  passages  in  a  correspondence  of 
an  American  minister  with  his  own  government,  to  the 
publication  of  which  he  objects.  If  the  principle  I  con 
test  is  just,  the  Charge  d' Affaires  is  right;  he  has  done 
his  duty  as  a  vigilant  supervisor  of  the  President's  cor 
respondence.  If  the  principle  is  admitted,  every  diplo 
matic  agent  at  Washington  will  do  the  same,  and  we 
shall  have  twenty  censors  of  the  correspondence  of  the 
government  and  of  the  public  press.  If  the  principle 
is  correct,  every  communication  which  the  President 


404<  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

makes,  in  relation  to  our  foreign  affairs,  either  to  the 
Congress  or  to  the  public,  ought  in  prudence  to  be  pre 
viously  submitted  to  these  ministers,  in  order  to  avoid 
disputes  and  troublesome  and  humiliating  explanations. 
If  the  principle  be  submitted  to,  neither  dignity  nor  in 
dependence  is  left  to  the  nation.  To  submit  even  to  a 
discreet  exercise  of  such  a  privilege  would  be  trouble 
some  and  degrading,  and  the  inevitable  abuse  of  it  could 
not  be  borne.  It  must,  therefore,  be  resisted  at  the 
threshold,  and  its  entrance  forbidden  into  the  sanctuary 
of  domestic  consultations.  But,  whatever  may  be  the 
principle  of  other  governments,  those  of  the  United 
States  are  fixed :  the  right  will  never  be  acknowledged, 
and  any  attempt  to  enforce  it  will  be  repelled  by  the  un 
divided  energy  of  the  nation." 

In  these  scenes  and  labors,  Livingston  did  not  forget 
his  plan  for  the  reformation  of  penal  law,  which  he  had 
designed,  not  only  for  Louisiana,  but  for  the  world.  He 
distributed  the  work  wherever  he  thought  it  could  be 
useful,  and  sent  copies  to  strangers  among  the  rising 
men  whose  influence  he  thought  might  aid  in  securing 
its  examination  by  legislators  and  publicists.  The  ac 
knowledgments  he  received  were  of  a  character  to  satisfy 
whatever  desire  for  applause  was  mingled  with  the  phi 
lanthropy  which  had  inspired  his  patient  labors  in  framing 
and  explaining  his  system.  M.  Villemain  wrote  to  him, 
thanking  him  for  his  "  precious  gift,"  and  saying,  "  I 
study  it  with  the  profound  interest  which  such  a  work, 
without  example  from  the  hand  of  any  one  man,  in 
spires."  He  added,  "  It  is  impossible  not  to  be  struck 
with  an  order  so  luminous,  so  simple,  and  with  such  deep 
philosophy  in  a  matter  so  long  given  up  to  barbarism 
and  subtlety.  Very  certainly,  such  a  reform  in  penal 
jurisprudence  reflects  more  credit  upon  our  modern  times 


MINISTER   TO    FRANCE.  405 

than  the  greatest  discoveries  in  the  arts,  in  literature,  and 
in  science ;  in  fact,  it  is  the  perfecting  of  the  first  of 
sciences,  —  social  science.  The  special  report  of  the  in 
troduction  to  the  Code  of  Crimes  and  Punishments  has 
not  less  interested  me,  from  the  grandeur  and  simplicity 
of  its  aims ;  and  even  the  phraseology  of  the  enactments 
you  propose  presents  a  conciseness,  a  clearness,  and,  if 
it  may  be  so  expressed,  a  probity  of  diction,  (probiti  de 
langage,)  which  cannot  be  too  much  admired."  Victor 
Hugo,  then  a  young  man,  but  already  renowned  for  those 
literary  labors,  aiming  towards  the  social  benefit  of  the 
more  suffering  part  of  mankind,  in  which  he  is  even  at 
this  moment,  with  a  large  increase  of  fame,  definitely 
persevering,  wrote  to  Livingston  the  following  letter:  — 

"  MONSIEUR  :  Vous  m'envoyez  un  beau  livre,  —  un 
livre  utile,  —  un  livre  modele.  Je  vous  remercie.  Des 
que  mes  mauvais  yeux  malades  me  le  permettront,  je 
m'empresserai  de  lire  les  passages  que  vous  me  faites 
1'honneur  de  m'indiquer  dans  1'ouvrage  entier.  Permettez 
moi  de  vous  dire  en  attendant  que  depuis  longtemps  je 
connais  vos  travaux.  Vous  etes  du  nombre  des  hommes 
qui  ont  le  plus  et  le  mieux  merite  de  I'humanite  dans 
ce  siecle.  Vous  etes  plus  heureux  que  nous  dans  votre 
pays.  Vous  defrichez  un  sol  vierge  ;  vous  pouvez  realiser 
les  idees  a  progres  en  moins  d'annees  que  nous  n'en  met- 
tons  ici  a  les  discuter;  vous  assistez  vivans  a  la  moisson 
du  grain  que  vous  avez  seme ;  nous,  nous  avons  tout  au 
plus  1'espoir  que  d'autres  le  recolteront  sur  notre  tombe. 

"  C'est  un  devoir  pour  les  hommes  avances  de  tous 
les  pays  de  se  tendre  la  main.  La  grande  pensee  qui 
les  occupe,  I'amelioration  du  sort  general  de  1'humanite, 
leur  est  comme  une  commune  patrie,  placee  au  dessus 
de  toutes  les  delimitations  de  langues,  de  climats,  et  de 


406  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

frontieres.  Permettez  moi  done,  Monsieur,  de  vous  re- 
garder  comme  un  compatriote,  et  de  vous  prier  d'agreer 
avec  tous  mes  remerciemens  1'assurance  de  mes  sentimens 
de  cordialite  et  de  haute  consideration. 

"  VICTOR  HUGO. 

"27  Mars,  1834." 

Neither  this  height  of  reputation  which  his  code  had 
brought  him,  nor  the  constant  and  anxious  labors  of  his 
mission,  nor  any  lassitude  of  advanced  age,  caused  Liv 
ingston  to  lose  a  single  opportunity  of  extending  the 
public  knowledge  of  his  system.  Under  his  pen,  the 
subject  was  never  trite,  the  reiteration  of  his  views 
never  wearisome.  He  could  clothe  the  old  thoughts 
in  a  new  dress  as  often  as  occasion  demanded,  and 
could  always  invest  with  a  fresh  interest  the  same  topics 
which,  years  before,  he  had  seemed  to  exhaust.  His 
ardor  and  his  eloquence  came  from  an  unfailing  source. 
Never  had  he  enforced  his  general  views  with  more  zeal 
or  greater  spirit  than  in  a  long  letter  responsive  to  a  com 
munication  he  received,  in  February,  1835,  from  the 
Howard  Society  of  New  Jersey.  The  following  pas 
sages  are  parts  of  this  letter :  — 

"  Every  citizen  ought  to  impress  on  his  representa 
tive  the  absolute  necessity  of  the  reform  without  which 
the  best  penal  laws  are  ineffectual.  Let  him  be  told 
that  it  is  his  particular  duty  to  correct  this  abuse ;  that 
he  cannot  shift  it  off  on  the  collective  body  to  which  he 
belongs ;  that  he  and  all  who,  like  him,  are  silent  on  this 
subject,  are  the  moral  murderers  of  hundreds  who,  from 
the  impure  contact  which  his  negligence  continues  to 
force  upon  them,  are  cut  off  from  society,  or  live  only 
to  prey  upon  it;  bid  him  act,  and  act  promptly;  that,  if 
his  habits  of  life  do  not  enable  him  to  prepare  the  neces- 


MINISTER   TO   FRANCE.  407 

sary  laws,  it  is  his  duty  to  urge  those  who  are  equal  to 
the  task  to  perform  it.  Let  him  use  one  half  the  exer 
tion  that  he  would  for  chartering  a  hank  or  building  a 
bridge,  and  the  work  will  be  done,  and  it  will  be  worth 
more  than  all  the  banks  that  were  ever  chartered,  and  all 
the  canals  that  were  ever  dug.  I  have  for  years  urged, 
in  writing  and  in  conversation,  this  indispensable  reform, 
which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  all  sound  penal  legislation. 
Every  day  I  am  more  convinced  of  its  necessity.  I  seize 
the  opportunity  which  your  letter  affords  of  reiterating 
my  efforts.  Those  of  your  Society  will,  I  trust,  prove 
more  effectual  than  mine  have  been,  and  enable  New 
Jersey  to  set  an  example  to  her  neighboring  States  which 
they  cannot  fail  to  follow. 

"  I  cannot  conclude  without  expressing  an  earnest  hope 
that  your  Society  may  see  the  necessity  of  employing  its 
collective  influence  and  that  which  the  high  character  of 
all  and  the  station  of  many  of  its  members  individually 
give  them,  to  endow  your  State  with  that  which  no  State 
has  yet  had  the  happiness  to  possess,  a  complete  system 
of  penal  law,  resting  on  the  great  preventive  basis  of 
general  education,  religious,  moral,  and  literary,  and  of 
which  all  the  parts  shall  be  adapted  to  each  other. 

"  No  country,  I  repeat,  has  ever  had  such  a  system; 
and  none  will  have  it  as  long  as  the  patchwork  plan,  of 
applying  remedies  only  when  evils  become  intolerable, 
shall  be  pursued. 

"  New  Jersey  has  an  opportunity  of  rising  to  a  proud 
preeminence,  in  jurisprudential  legislation,  above  her  two 
powerful  neighbors,  by  constructing  the  whole  of  the 
new  machine,  and  putting  it  at  once  in  motion,  while  they 
are  trying  separately  the  effects  of  some  of  its  detached 
springs  and  wheels.  These  partial  experiments  become 


408  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

less  efficient,  and  sometimes  totally  fail,  because  the  in 
stitutions  on  which  they  are  made  are  unsupported,  and 
thus  bring  discredit  on  the  whole  system.  Thus  the  pen 
itentiary  plan  loses  one  half  its  efficiency  and  many  of  its 
advocates,  because  it  is  counteracted  by  indiscriminate  con 
finement  before  trial,  and  is  not  supported  by  proper  laws 
to  regulate  pauperism  and  vagrancy.  If  one  State  could 
be  prevailed  on  to  give  the  plan  a  fair  trial,  by  a  connected 
series  of  well-adapted  institutions,  my  life  for  it,  the  ef 
fects  would  exceed  the  most  sanguine  expectations ;  and,  if 
it  failed,  how  easy  to  return  to  the  present  system,  if  sys 
tem  it  may  be  called,  which  consists  only  of  detached  parts. 

"  Although  the  education  which  I  received  in  New 
Jersey  was  sadly  imperfect,  interrupted  by  the  military 
operations  of  the  Revolution,  and  unaided  by  the  numer 
ous  professorships,  the  libraries  and  apparatus,  which  now 
offer  themselves  to  the  more  favored  students  of  modern 
times,  I  yet  feel  an  attachment  to  the  State  in  which  this 
slight  foundation  was  laid,  and  would  be  most  happy  to 
add,  in  any  way,  to  its  honor  and  the  prosperity  of  its  in 
habitants.  Good  laws,  faithfully  executed,  will  secure 
both*  more  effectually  than  great  cities  or  extensive  ter 
ritory.  The  first  are  within  your  reach  ;  the  other  fortu 
nately  you  do  not  possess,  for  I  think  they  would  impede 
rather  than  aid  your  progress  to  the  high  eminence  the 
first  will  enable  you  to  attain." 

The  first  few  months  of  Livingston's  residence  in 
France  were  the  last  months  of  Lafayette's  life.  Dur 
ing  this  period,  the  efforts  of  the  Minister  to  secure  the 
fulfilment  of  the  treaty  were  warmly  seconded  by  the 
illustrious  Franco- American,  both  in  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  of  which  he  and  his  son  were  members,  and 
out  of  it.  The  social  intercourse  of  the  two  ancient 


MINISTER    TO    FRANCE.  4,99 

friends  was  now  constant  and  mutually  delightful.  The 
following  letter  to  Livingston  was,  certainly,  one  of  the  last 
ever  dictated  by  Lafayette.  The  body  of  it  is  in  the 
handwriting  of  an  amanuensis  ;  but  the  signature,  feebly 
executed,  is  his  own.  Three  days  after  its  date,  the  at 
tack  which  it  mentions  took  a  more  acute  form,  and,  on 
the  19th  of  the  same  month,  he  expired. 

"Paris,  May  6,  1834. 

"  Since  I  had  the  pleasure  to  see  you,  my  dear  friend,  I 
have  had  an  attack  of  gouty  fever,  which  kept  me  in  my 
bed.  I  hope  it  is  or  will  be  soon  over.  I  have  received  a 
letter  from  the  Abolition  Society  of  Glasgow,  a  respecta 
ble  association  it  appears,  the  Lord  Provost  and  principal 
men  being  at  the  head  of  it.  They  have  made  me  an 
honorary  member,  and  mean  to  do  so  for  other  members 
of  the  House  ;  but  they  so  strenuously  complain  of  the 
state  of  society  in  that  respect  in  a  part  of  the  United 
States,  and  request  my  answering  a  few  questions,  which 
perhaps  will  not  please  them  so  much  as  if  I  was  to  go 
along  with  them  in  the  reproaches.  You  know  I  would 
this  moment  have  my  right  arm  cut  off  to  rid  the  United 
States  of  that  lamentable  evil.  Yet  I  do  not  think  that 
foreign,  and  particularly  British,  lectures  will  much  ad 
vance  the  general  disposition  in  that  respect.  I  wish 
confidentially  to  communicate  my  answer  to  you. 

"  I  see  you  cannot  get  the  papers  from  the  Department 
of  Foreign  Affairs.  This  whole  business  is  strange. 

"  There  was  a  sad  report  spread  yesterday  in  the  juste 
milieu  circles :  they  were  saying  that  a  telegraphic  de 
spatch  had  arrived  announcing,  that,  in  the  rejoicing  of  the 
French  and  foreign  navies  at  Toulon,  for  the  St,  Philip, 
one  of  the  guns  of  an  American  frigate  had  been  care 
lessly  loaded,  or  left  loaded,  with  a  cannon-ball,  and  that 

52 


410  LIFE,    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

one  Frenchman  had  been  killed  and  three  wounded.  I 
still  hope  it  is  not  true.  When  you  hear  anything  of  it, 
or  receive  any  letter  to  the  contrary,  be  pleased  to  let  me 
know  it. 

"  How  are  you,  and  when  do  you  go  1  Send  me  my 
letter  back  to-morrow  morning,  for  it  is  near  two  months 
since  I  received  theirs.  With  my  fellow-citizens  of  the 
South  you  know  I  have  been  more  plain  and  earnest  on 
the  subject  than  any  man  living;  but  I  do  not  like  to  treat 
the  matter  with  foreigners,  particularly  with  those  whose 
ancestors  have  entailed  the  evil  upon  us. 

"  Your  affectionate  friend, 

"  LAFAYETTE." 

In  the  autumn  of  1834,  Mr.  Livingston,  accompanied 
by  his  wife  and  Mrs.  Barton,  made  a  journey  through 
Switzerland  and  Germany.  He  enjoyed  it  greatly,  though 
the  primary  object  of  the  trip  was  to  shake  off  an  inter 
mittent  fever  which  he  had  contracted,  and  from  which  it 
had  the  effect  to  restore  him. 

At  Geneva,  he  was  entertained  by  M.  de  Sellon,  an  ac 
tive  philanthropist,  who  showed  him  a  monument  in  the 
form  of  a  temple,  which  he  had,  the  year  before,  erected 
and  consecrated  "  to  the  inviolability  of  the  life  of  man." 
On  the  facade  of  this  monument  were  twelve  inscriptions, 
engraved  in  the  marble,  to  the  memory  of  as  many  great 
names,  including  those  of  Fenelon,  Beccaria,  and  Wilber- 
force.  One  of  these  inscriptions  was  as  follows :  — 

A 

LIVINGSTON. 

IL  DEMANDA 
L'ABOLITION   DE  LA 
PEINE  DE  MORT  A 

L'AMERIQUE. 


MINISTER   TO    FRANCE. 

On  the  same  journey,  when  at  Heidelberg,  he  sent  his 
card  to  Professor  Mittermaier,  the  voluminous  and  en 
lightened  advocate  of  jurisprudential  reforms,  who  has 
lately  been  styled  a  German  Brougham,  with  whom,  dur 
ing  the  preparation  of  the  penal  code,  he  had  had  some 
correspondence,  but  whom  he  had  never  seen.  The  Pro 
fessor  immediately  called  at  his  hotel,  and,  on  being  shown 
to  his  room,  rushed  into  his  arms,  hugged  and  kissed  him, 
to  the  astonishment  as  well  as  amusement  of  Mrs.  Liv 
ingston  and  her  daughter,  not  to  speak  of  the  embarrass 
ment  which  such  a  form  of  salutation  must  have  caused 
to  Livingston  himself. 

The  following  passage  shows  how  a  statesman  and  re 
forming  jurist,  though  past  his  seventieth  year,  may  make 
the  transition  "  from  grave  to  gay,"  and  enter  for  a  time 
into  the  very  spirit  of  the  younger  and  less  thoughtful 
crowd.  It  is  taken  from  a  letter  written  by  Livingston 
to  Dallas  in  December,  1834. 

"  Tell  Mrs.  Dallas  that  her  townswoman,  Mrs.  W.,  is 
making  the  greatest  sensation  in  all  the  fashionable  cir 
cles.  On  her  first  arrival  I  had  the  pleasure  of  intro 
ducing  her  at  Lady  Granville's  soiree,  which  happened 
to  be  a  very  crowded  one.  It  is  impossible  to  describe 
the  effect  produced  by  her  entrance.  '  Who  is  she  1 
Where  does  she  come  from  \  How  beautiful !  How 
graceful !  How  modest !  How  well  dressed  !  An  an 
gel  !  A  Hebe ! '  was  exclaimed  by  an  hundred  voices ; 
and  this,  although,"  etc.,  etc. 

Men  who  possess  extreme  gentleness  of  temper  do  not 
lack  opportunities  for  its  exercise ;  and  if  Livingston  was 
never  known  to  be  angry,  it  was  not  for  want  of  what 
most  persons  would  esteem  abundant  provocation.  At 
Paris  he  was  unfortunate  in  the  choice  of  a  valet  de  cham~ 
bre,  a  mulatto  who  had  been  highly  commended  to  him. 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

This  man  was  ingenious  in  dereliction,  and  at  length  had 
to  be  discharged.  The  following  was  his  last  perform 
ance  while  in  Mr.  Livingston's  service.  The  latter  sent 
his  watch  by  him  to  a  maker's,  to  be  repaired.  On  his 
return  he  reported  that  the  work  would  be  done  by  a  cer 
tain  time.  The  period  passed;  he  was  sent  to  bring  the 
watch  home.  He  came  back  with  a  message  that  the 
repairs  were  not  yet  finished.  This  was  repeated  several 
times,  and  at  last  Mr.  Livingston,  in  his  mildest  but  firm 
est  tones,  directed  him  to  ask  the  maker  to  return  his 
watch,  whether  mended  or  not.  At  this  point  the  man 
fell  upon  his  knees,  and  confessed,  that,  having  urgent  need 
of  a  small  sum  of  money,  he  had  left  the  watch,  not  at 
the  maker's,  but  at  the  mont-de-piete.  Mr.  Livingston 
now  seemed  to  feel  that  it  was  incumbent  upon  him  to 
exhibit  a  good  deal  of  wrath,  and  he  rebuked  the  fel 
low  with  some  severity ;  but  he  had  no  inclination  to 
prolong  the  scene,  and,  hastening  to  the  room  where  his 
family  were  sitting,  his  features  beaming  \vith  mirthful- 
ness,  he  told  them  the  story  of  the  unhappy  valet,  in  a 
manner  evincing  that  he  was  impressed  by  the  ludicrous 
features  of  the  misdemeanor,  rather  more  than  by  its 
flagrancy. 

Mr.  Livingston,  always  a  prompt  and  industrious  letter- 
writer,  while  in  France,  besides  a  regular  correspondence 
with  many  public  men  at  home,  including  Andrew  Jack 
son,  James  Madison,  Daniel  Webster,  Edward  Everett, 
George  M.  Dallas,  Joel  R.  Poinsett,  Charles  J.  Ingersoll, 
and  others,  continued  to  write  often  to  his  relations  and 
friends.  To  his  aged  sister,  Mrs.  Garretson,  he  did  not 
forget  to  send  a  minute  account  of  the  incidents  of  his 
outward  voyage,  including  a  singular  dream.  And  he 
wrote  for  her,  when  she  was  in  the  eighty- third  year  of 
her  age,  a  full  report  of  his  travels  in  Switzerland  and 


MINISTER  TO  FRANCE.  413 

Germany.     Of  this  last  letter   the   following  is   a  pas- 


"  Your  very  affectionate  and  good  letter  reached  me 
among  the  mountains  of  Switzerland,  where  I  had  gone 
for  the  henefit  of  my  health.  Thank  God,  it  is  now  re 
stored,  and  I  am  enabled  without  inconvenience  to  per 
form  the  duties  of  my  place.  Believe  me,  my  dear  sister, 
I  feel  the  force  of  your  reflections ;  but  I  cannot  believe 
that  a  strict  attention  to  the  duties  which  our  country  or 
our  situation  in  life  require  is  incompatible  with  those  due 
to  our  Creator.  I  endeavor,  therefore,  to  reconcile  them. 
If  I  could  think  this  were  impossible,  I  would  at  once  re 
nounce  the  former ;  for  with  you  I  am  persuaded  that  the 
last  is  of  paramount  importance." 

During  the  first  year  of  General  Jackson's  administra 
tion,  Mr.  Livingston's  brother-in-law,  Auguste  Davezac, 
who  in  the  campaign  for  the  defence  of  New  Orleans  had 
attained  the  military  rank  and  title  of  Major,  was  de 
spatched  as  Charge  d 'Affaires  of  the  United  States  at  the 
Hague.  He  was  a  much  younger  man  than  Livingston, 
for  whom  his  respect  was  almost  worship.  He  possessed, 
perhaps,  more  talent  than  judgment,  and  Livingston,  who 
entertained  the  warmest  affection  for  him,  watched  his  di 
plomatic  career  with  a  parental  solicitude.  Both  before  and 
after  going  himself  to  France,  he  constantly  conveyed  to 
him,  in  the  most  gentle  manner,  such  advice  as  he  thought 
he  might  most  stand  in  need  of.  The  tone  of  all  his  let 
ters  to  the  Charge  d' Affaires  was  like  the  concluding  sen 
tence  of  one  of  them,  in  which,  while  Secretary  of  State, 
he  informed  him  of  his  confirmation  by  the  Senate  and 
of  a  provision  for  credit  with  his  bankers,  —  "  Live  pru 
dently,  happily,  et  non  nostri  immemor" 

Livingston  could  feelingly  give  to  one  whose  welfare  he 
had  at  heart  the  advice  to  live  prudently.  We  have  seen 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

how  long  and  how  severely  he  had  himself  expiated  the 
want  of  common  financial  skill.  The  penalty  for  this 
innate  defect  he  was  destined  to  continue  paying,  in  some 
degree,  to  the  end.  While  he  lived  in  France,  though 
possessing  a  good  deal  of  landed  property,  his  command 
of  ready  money,  beyond  the  inadequate  salary  of  his  of 
fice,  was  not  sufficient  to  exempt  him  from  anxiety  and 
the  practical  study  of  economy.  Shortly  after  reaching 
Paris,  he  wrote  to  Davezac  that  he  hoped  they  would  all 
meet  at  Montgomery  Place  in  a  year,  or  eighteen  months 
at  farthest.  "  In  two  years,"  he  added,  "  the  necessary 
expenses  of  an  establishment  here  would  embarrass  me 
greatly."  In  the  course  of  one  of  the  earliest  of  his 
public  despatches  to  the  Secretary  of  State  at  Washing 
ton  the  following  passage  occurs :  — 

"  I  have,  since  my  arrival,  been  living  inconveniently 
in  an  hotel,  taking  time  to  get  my  establishment  on  a 
footing  of  economy  united  with  the  necessary  respecta 
bility  of  my  station ;  and  I  find  that  the  four  articles  of 
house-rent,  coach-hire,  servants,  and  fuel  will  take  about 
seven  thousand  dollars,  leaving  for  all  my  other  expenses, 
in  this  expensive  capital,  two  thousand  dollars.  I  make 
this  statement,  not  because  I  can  have  any  interest  in  it, 
for  I  am  not  rich  enough  to  remain  here  until  some  rem 
edy  could  be  applied  to  the  evil,  but  for  the  honor  of  the 
country,  and  to  enable  it  to  avail  itself  of  the  services  of 
others  than  men  of  large  fortune." 

On  receiving  from  the  French  government  the  pass 
ports  which  he  had  demanded,  he  felt  a  strong  desire  to 
make  some  further  excursions,  particularly  in  England, 
before  returning  home ;  but  his  sense  of  duty  obliged 
him  to  forego  this  pleasure,  in  order  to  make  the  break 
ing  up  of  the  mission  a  perfectly  unequivocal  act.  On 
the  eve  of  his  embarkation  he  wrote  to  Davezac :  — 


MINISTER   TO   FRANCE.  415 

"Havre,  4th  May,  1835. 

"  I  was  very  happy,  my  dear  Davezac,  to  find  that  you 
saw  the  condition  annexed  to  the  law  providing  for  the 
payment  of  our  indemnity  in  the  light  I  do,  and  approved 
of  my  return.  The  necessity  for  this  movement  disap 
pointed  me,  for  I  wished  very  much  to  pass  some  time 
with  you  and  afterwards  in  England ;  but  this  was  impos 
sible  after  the  refusal  to  pay,  for  such  in  effect  is  the  an 
nexation  of  a  degrading  condition.  My  stay  in  Europe 
would  be  considered  as  evidence  of  a  desire  to  resume 
my  mission. 

"  We  shall  probably  now,  my  dear  Davezac,  meet  no 
more,  unless  you  should  get  tired  of  diplomacy  before  I 
die,  which  is  not  very  probable.  Whenever  you  do,  come 
to  Montgomery,  and  we  will  lead  a  happier,  although  less 

splendid  life  than  at  Paris  or  the  Hague And  you, 

—  how  do  your  affairs  at  Amsterdam  prosper  I  Let  me 
know  all  about  you  when  you  write,  which  I  hope  you 
will  do  frequently. 

"  We  have  been  here  four  or  five  days,  waiting  the  ar 
rival  of  the  frigate  from  Cherbourg,  where  she  went  to 
take  in  water.  She  is  just  returned,  and  we  embark  to 
morrow. 

"  God  bless  you,  my  dear  Davezac, 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"  EDW.  LIVINGSTON." 

The  frigate  in  which  Mr.  Livingston,  with  his  family, 
was  brought  home  was  the  Constitution,  commanded  by 
Commodore  Elliott,  which  arrived  at  New  York  on  the 
23d  of  June.  Intelligence  of  the  state  in  which  he  had 
left  the  affair  with  France  had  preceded  him,  and  pre 
pared  the  country  to  express  complete  and  universal  satis 
faction  with  his  conduct.  So  general  and  popular  was 


416  LIFE   OF    EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

the  feeling,  that  crowds  of  people  greeted  him  at  the 
landing,  and  followed  his  carriage  to  the  house  of  his 
brother,  in  Greenwich  Street,  in  front  of  which  they 
remained  calling  for  him  until  he  appeared  at  the  door 
and  said :  — 

"  Fellow-citizens,  I  feel  much  happiness  at  your  cord 
ial  welcome  of  my  return,  and  beg  to  assure  you  that 
during  my  mission  I  have  studied  all  that  was  due  to  the 
dignity  of  my  country,  its  general  interest,  and  its  wel 
fare." 

Cheers  greeted  this  concise  speech,  and  the  crowd  dis 
persed.  The  next  day,  Mr.  Livingston,  in  accordance 
with  a  request  of  the  Common  Council,  held  a  public 
reception  in  the  Governor's  room  at  the  city-hall.  He 
received  an  invitation  to  a  public  dinner  to  be  given  in 
his  honor,  from  a  large  meeting  of  citizens  which  as 
sembled  on  the  day  of  his  arrival.  The  invitation,  which 
was  signed  by  Cornelius  W.  Lawrence,  the  Mayor,  and  by 
Preserved  Fish,  Enos  T.  Throop,  Samuel  Jones,  Thomas 
J.  Oakley,  William  Leggett,  J.  Fenimore  Cooper,  C. 
C.  Cambreling,  Theodore  Sedgwick,  Junior,  John  Mc- 
Keon,  and  many  others,  contained  the  following  para 
graph  :  - 

"  Your  fellow-citizens  are  desirous  of  giving  you,  upon 
your  return  to  this  your  native  State,  that  cordial  wel 
come  due  to  one  who  has  done  so  much  to  illustrate  the 
American  name ;  to  show  by  the  warmth  of  that  greeting 
that  they  place  a  just  estimate  upon  the  services  of  their 
public  men,  and  that  they  understand  and  appreciate  the 
embarrassment  and  harassing  anxieties  which  have  met 
you  at  every  stage  of  this  question;  that  they  recognize 
in  your  recent  acts  the  firm  characteristics  which  have 
marked  the  whole  of  your  eminent  and  useful  public 
life ;  and  that  your  unfaltering  zeal,  your  wise  aversion 


MINISTER    TO    FRANCE. 

to  violent  measures,  and  your  proud  and  fervent  nation 
ality  of  spirit,  command  the  unqualified  respect  and  ad 
miration  of  your  countrymen." 

Mr.  Livingston  accepted  this  honor,  and  at  the  dinner, 
which  took  place  at  the  City  Hotel,  on  the  16th  of  July, 
and  at  which  the  Mayor,  Mr.  Lawrence,  presided,  was 
toasted  in  the  following  terms :  — 

"Edward  Livingston.  As  a  patriot  and  statesman  he 
belongs  to  America ;  as  a  jurist  and  philosopher,  to  the 
world.  His  exposition  of  the  25th  April  embodies  the 
sentiments  of  his  countrymen,  and  stands  as  a  text-book 
for  American  diplomatists." 

Upon  rising  to  respond  to  this  compliment,  Living 
ston  betrayed  —  I  will  not  ask  the  statesmen  of  the  pres 
ent  day  to  credit  the  fact  —  an  unmistakable  diffidence, 
such  as  has  not  often  been  witnessed  in  this  country, 
whose  public  men,  whatever  other  qualities  they  may 
have  lacked,  have  not  usually  been  wanting  in  self-pos 
session.  The  following  is  the  report  of  his  opening  re 
marks,  which  were  received  with  demonstrations  of  gen 
eral  enthusiasm  :  — 

"  I  had  arranged  some  phrases  which  I  thought  might 
suit  the  occasion.  But  they  are  driven  from  my  mind 
by  the  impulse  which  the  scene  around  me  most  naturally 
produces.  I  find  them  tame,  flat,  powerless,  to  express 
the  feelings  by  which  I  am  excited, — agitated, — almost 
overpowered. 

"  Gentlemen,  I  did  not  expect  this.  I  returned 
without  having  attained  final  success  in  my  mission.  I 
returned  with  the  satisfactory,  but  humble  consciousness 
of  having  done  my  duty;  and  I  anticipated  no  other 
pleasure  on  my  return  than  the  greetings  of  personal 
friends,  and  that  exquisite  sensation  which  one  who  loves 
his  country  feels,  when,  after  a  long  absence,  his  foot 

53 


418  LIFE    OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

presses  his  native  shore.  Such  of  you,  Gentlemen,  as 
have  been  abroad  will  understand  this.  But  all  of  you 
must  join  me  in  lamenting,  that  the  poverty  of  our  lan 
guage  has  no  other  word  than  the  vague  one  of  country 
to  express  the  relation  between  it  and  its  citizens.  We 
have  no  derivative  from  the  patria  of  the  Romans,  and 
have  not  adopted  the  Faderland  of  our  Saxon  ancestors. 
Nothing  can  be  more  appropriate  to  express  the  feeling, 
nothing  more  resembles  filial  duty  and  affection,  than 
the  obligation  we  owe  to  our  native  land,  or  the  attach 
ment  which  binds  us  by  voluntary  ties  to  the  country 
of  our  adoption.  But  if  we  have  not  the  word  in  our 
language,  we  have  the  sentiment  in  our  hearts.  Prop 
erly  cultivated,  it  will  teach  us,  not  only  to  support  our 
country  on  occasions  like  the  present,  when  it  can  ap 
peal  to  all  nations  for  the  uniform  moderation  and  jus 
tice  of  its  course,  but,  with  the  pious  sons  of  the  patri 
arch,  to  veil  even  the  occasional  excesses  of  our  common 
parent  from  the  eyes  of  the  world,  not,  like  their  degen 
erate,  unnatural  brother,  to  exaggerate  and  expose  them 
to  derision,  —  to  conceal,  not  to  discover,  the  nakedness 
of  the  land,  —  to  glory  in  its  honor,  to  lament  its  misfor 
tunes,  to  espouse  its  cause  as  our  own,  and  identify  our 
selves  with  it  in  its  prosperous  or  adverse  fortune.  This 
is  patriotism,  this  is  true  love  of  country;  and  as  it  is 
common  to  all  who  hear  me,  I  may  be  permitted  to  say, 
that  it  guided  me  in  my  conduct,  cheered  me  during  the 
difficulties  of  my  mission,  and  that  I  looked  to  the  con 
sciousness  of  its  having  animated  me  for  my  best  re 
ward. 

"  I  repeat,  Gentlemen,  that  I  did  not  expect  the  recep 
tion  I  have  met  with.  But  I  should  be  guilty  of  an 
absurd  affectation  if  I  attempted  to  conceal  the  heartfelt 
pleasure  it  has  given  me.  I  thank  you  for  myself.  I 


MINISTER   TO    FRANCE. 

thank  you  more  for  my  country ;  for  I  have  not  the  vanity 
to  believe  that  any  merit  of  mine  could  excite  the  enthu 
siastic  demonstrations  that  have  been  made ;  and  my  feel 
ings  of  personal  gratification  were  lost  in  the  higher  enjoy 
ment  of  national  pride,  when,  amid  the  shouts  that  greeted 
my  arrival,  the  first  words  I  could  distinguish  were 
those  which  reprobated  any  unworthy  concession.  Never 
within  my  recollection,  in  the  course  of  a  long  political 
life,  has  public  sentiment,  on  any  question,  been  so  strong 
ly  expressed,  —  expressed  as  it  should  be,  calmly  but  with 
energy,  without  bluster,  without  violence,  in  the  language 
of  high-minded  men,  who  appreciate  their  own  character 
and  the  dignity  of  their  country.  In  a  settled  determi 
nation  to  suffer  no  degrading  interference  with  our  legis 
lative  councils,  all  party  feelings  seem  forgotten,  and  the 
assurance  I  gave  to  the  French  government  on  my  de 
parture,  that  every  attempt  of  this  nature  would  be  re 
pelled  by  the  undivided  energies  of  the  nation,  seems 
nobly  confirmed." 

The  prominent  names  among  those  who  conducted  this 
public  demonstration  appear  to  have  belonged  mainly 
to  members  of  one  party,  —  that  attached  to  General 
Jackson  and  his  administration.  The  opposite  party 
severely  criticised  the  spirit  which  sought  to  have  such 
a  statesman,  on  such  an  occasion, all  to  itself.  The  "New 
York  American,"  a  journal  of  the  opposition,  observed 
upon  the  subject :  — 

"  So  far  as  this  dinner  was  intended  as  a  party  demon 
stration,  it  was,  we  understand,  quite  successful,  —  the 
faithful  who  are  in,  and  those  who  expect  to  be  in,  office 
attending  in  full  numbers. 

"  So  far  as  it  was  meant  to  pass,  at  home,  for  a  com 
pliment  from  his  fellow-citizens  at  large,  or  to  produce 
the  impression  abroad  that  all  parties  united  in  it,  this  fes- 


4*20  LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

tival  was,  of  course,  a  failure.  Therein  we  think  the 
party  managers  sinned  alike  against  good  policy  and 
good  taste ;  for  it  is  quite  certain,  such  is  the  general 
satisfaction  with  Mr.  Livingston's  course  as  Minister  in 
France,  and  especially  with  his  last  letter,  that  all  sides 
would  have  cheerfully  united  in  the  compliment  to  him, 
—  an  occurrence  that,  of  course,  would  personally  have 
been  more  gratifying,  and,  for  national  effect  abroad, 
greatly  more  striking.  Party  considerations,  however, 
prevailed ;  though  not,  we  are  persuaded,  with  the  con 
currence  or  approbation  of  Mr.  Livingston." 

About  the  same  time,  Livingston  was  received,  at  a 
similar  dinner  in  Philadelphia,  with  no  less  warmth  of 
popular  welcome.  On  the  latter  occasion  he  thus  defined 
the  position  of  the  nation  with  respect  to  France :  — 

"  The  case  that  has  drawn  forth  this  noble  expression 
of  national  feeling  is  of  novel  occurrence.  Heretofore 
we  have  contended  for  rights  withheld,  for  interests  in 
vaded  :  we  contended  manfully,  successfully,  but  never 
with  perfect  unanimity.  Now,  we  are  called  on  to  con 
sider  a  question  of  national  dignity,  unmingled  with  any 
other  consideration;  and  the  country  shows  by  its  unex 
ampled  unanimity  that  it  considers  this  last  as  of  para 
mount  importance.  Lost  rights  may  be  recovered ;  the 
battles  of  freedom,  though  '  sometimes  lost/  are,  in  the 
end,  '  always  won.'  Injuries  to  interest  may  be  re 
paired  ;  but  the  reputation  of  a  country  once  lost  can 
never  be  regained. 

44  The  people  of  the  United  States  seem  to  be  deeply 
sensible  of  this  great  truth ;  and  the  cry  which  I  first 
heard  on  my  arrival,  of  '  No  apology  !  No  concession  ! ' 
has  been  repeated  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  nation 
from  the  seaboard  to  the  mountains,  from  the  mountains 
to  the  great  lakes  and  the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi. 


MINISTER    TO    FRANCE. 

Not  only  all  the  prejudices  of  party  seem  lost  in  this  na 
tional  spirit,  but  strong1  personal  interests  give  way  to 
the  patriotic  feeling  which  prompts  even  those  who  are 
interested  in  the  claims  on  France  to  reject,  with  disdain, 
the  idea  of  purchasing  their  payment  by  an  act  of  na 
tional  dishonor.  I  renew,  therefore,  my  congratulations 
to  you  and  to  the  country  on  the  noble  spirit  which 
pervades  it." 

In  the  course  of  the  same  speech  he  gave  the  follow 
ing  expression  to  the  inherent,  essential  republicanism  of 
his  nature  :  — 

"  The  occasion  which  has  brought  you  together  adds 
one  more  to  the  many  preceding  refutations  of  the  charge 
of  ingratitude  against  republics ;  for  the  people  have,  on 
this  occasion,  most  generously  repaid  moderate  services, 
ordinary  talents,  and  humble  efforts,  by  the  highest  of  all 
rewards,  their  approbation  and  applause. 

"  No !  republics  are  not  ungrateful !  The  charge  is 
made  by  the  sordid  and  the  vain,  who  think  nothing 
valuable  but  gold,  nothing  honorable  but  titles,  and  that 
gaudy  ribbons  are  the  proper  recompense  for  merit. 
No,  Gentlemen,  republics  are  not  ungrateful,  but  they 
are  judicious  in  their  choice  of  rewards.  They  do  not 
give  hereditary  honors  to  virtue  and  wisdom,  which  may 
descend  to  folly  and  vice.  They  do  not  wring  its  earn 
ings  from  the  hard  hand  of  labor,  that  they  may  be  poured 
out  in  pensions  on  the  idle  and  unworthy.  They  do  not 
decorate  with  stars  and  spangled  garters,  with  ribbons 
and  crosses  and  gewgaws,  men  who,  if  they  have  done 
anything  that  may  seem  to  have  deserved  these  childish 
toys,  may  afterwards  prove  unworthy  of  the  decoration. 
But  they  give  a  nobler,  a  higher  recompense  for  services, 
— they  give  their  confidence;  and  the  seal  of  their  appro 
bation  is  a  prouder  distinction  than  any  that  dangles 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

from  the  button-hole,  or  is  embroidered  on  the  breast 
of  the  titled  courtier ;  and  I  feel  myself  more  honored 
as  well  as  gratified  by  the  applauding  voice  of  my  fellow- 
citizens,  by  the  grasp  of  their  friendly  hands,  some  of 
them  hard  with  honest  labor,  by  their  countenances, 
beaming  with  the  fire  of  patriotism,  —  infinitely  more 
honored,  than  I  could  be  by  any  titular  appendage  to 
my  name  that  a  monarch  could  bestow." 

It  is  perhaps  superfluous  to  add  that  the  whole  conduct 
of  Livingston  while  abroad  received  the  hearty  applause 
of  the  President  and  of  all  the  members  of  the  admin 
istration.  Indeed,  not  the  administration  only,  but  all 
parties,  in  Congress  and  the  country,  were  in  this  sen 
timent  unanimous,  and  unanimous  in  a  determination 
to  go  to  war  with  France,  if  necessary,  but  never  to 
give  her  the  required  explanation,  —  a  determination 
which  furnished  the  subject  of  one  of  the  most  impas 
sioned  and  effective  bursts  of  oratory  from  John  Quincy 
Adams,  the  venerable  ex-President,  and  leader  of  the 
opposition  in  Congress.  The  approbation  of  the  Presi 
dent  was  officially  communicated  to  Livingston  by  the 
Secretary  of  State,  in  a  note,  responsive  to  his  letter 
resigning  office,  which  not  only  applauded  his  whole  con 
duct  while  in  France,  and  especially  his  parting  letter 
to  the  Due  de  Broglie,  but  referred  to  the  regard  and 
respect  which  many  years  of  intimate  association  in  peace 
and  war  had  inspired  in  the  President's  breast,  and  de 
clared  that,  although  they  had  differed  on  some  points 
of  general  policy,  the  minister's  singleness  of  purpose, 
perfect  integrity,  and  devotion  to  his  country,  had  been 
always  known  to  the  President,  who  trusted  that  his 
friend's  retirement  might  be  but  temporary. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 
CONCLUSION. 

Retirement  of  Livingston  to  Montgomery  Place — Pursuits,  Associa 
tions,  and  Views — Visit  at  Washington  —  Last  Appearance  in  the  Su 
preme  Court  —  Allusion  to  Jefferson  —  Mr.  Barton's  Return  from  France 
—  Culmination  of  the  Difficulty  between  the  two  Governments  —  Letter 
of  Advice  from  Livingston  to  the  President,  respecting  the  Message  to 
Congress  on  that  Subject  —  Mediation  in  the  Affair  by  Great  Britain  — 
Settlement  of  the  Dispute —  Extract  from  Livingston's  Last  Letter  to  his 
Wife — Return  to  Montgomery  Place — Illness  and  Death  —  Honors 
paid  to  his  Memory —  The  Author's  View  of  Livingston's  Character. 

LIVINGSTON  now  retired  to  Montgomery  Place, 
with  leisure  to  watch  the  daily  changes  in  its  foli 
age,  its  scenery,  and  its  prospects.  For  more  than  thirty 
years,  in  the  midst  of  lahor,  excitement,  and  suffering, 
he  had  sighed  for  this  kind  of  repose,  and  the  habits  ac 
quired  in  so  long  a  period  of  activity  had  not  disqualified 
him  for  enjoying  it,  when  finally  attained.  Some  of  his 
letters,  written  during  the  following  months,  picture 
warmly  the  delights  of  "  a  gorgeous  fall  foliage,  listless 
sauntering,  and  nothing  to  do."  Reading,  correspondence, 
and  long  walks,  upon  which  he  sometimes  carried  his  fish 
ing-rod  or  fowling-piece,  formed  his  principal  occupation. 
An  experiment  which  he  made  in  transplanting,  upon 
the  lawn,  in  the  month  of  August,  a  large  locust-tree, 
afforded  him  a  subject  of  the  most  lively  interest. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Montgomery  Place  were  the 
country-seats  of  his  brother,  John  R.  Livingston,  and 
of  most  of  his  surviving  relatives.  It  would  be  difficult 
to  paint  in  too  strong  colors  the  pride  and  affection  with 


LIFE  OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

which  he  was  regarded  by  this  circle.  He  had  been  the 
youngest  and  the  favorite,  as  we  have  seen,  of  the  old 
family  household;  those  who  still  lived  had,  with  true 
solicitude,  watched  his  career  during  the  long  struggles 
through  which  he  had  passed,  and  now  his  achievements 
and  fame  were  in  some  sense  their  reward  as  well  as 
his  own.  His  intellect  had  never  been  brighter,  his 
manners  never  more  genial,  his  affections  never  warmer 
than  now.  By  all  his  intimate  acquaintances  he  was 
looked  upon  as  one  of  those  rare  men  who,  without  any 
definite  blemish  upon  their  virtue  or  their  temper,  are 
nearly — for  even  human  partiality  has  never  pronounced 
any  man  to  be  entirely — perfect:  The  venerable  Mrs. 
Garretson,  who  had  been  his  playful  correspondent  sixty 
years  before,  who  had  followed  his  whole  growth  and 
career  with  a  sister's,  almost  a  mother's  tenderness,  and 
who  certainly  cherished  a  sound  faith  in  the  doctrines  of 
the  Methodist  church,  of  which  she  had  long  been  a 
member,  used  at  this  period  to  repeat  an  observation 
which  seemed  almost  to  imply  that  she  found  it  difficult 
to  understand  how  a  natural  heart  such  as  his  could 
need  regeneration. 

The  President,  on  receiving  his  resignation,  had  offi 
cially  said  that  he  trusted  his  retirement  would  be  but 
temporary ;  but  I  do  not  find  that  he  himself  entertained 
any  definite  expectation  of,  or  desire  for,  further  public 
employment,  though  the  following  paragraph  from  a 
letter,  dated  the  1st  of  November,  to  one  of  the  closest 
of  his  political  friends  shows  that  there  were  two  offices 
to  either  of  which  he  would  not  have  been  averse,  if  it 
had  been  fairly  open  to  him :  — 

"  I  answer  you,  my  dear  Dallas,  as  you  desire,  sin 
cerely  and  very  confidentially.  I  am  not  very  desirous 
of  place,  but  I  cannot,  while  I  enjoy  my  present  state  of 


CONCLUSION. 

health,  be  entirely  idle.  Yet  there  are  but  two  situations 
which  have  any  attractions  for  me :  the  one  I  occupied 
at  home,  and  the  mission  to  England  abroad,  neither  of 
which  is  there  any  chance  of  my  obtaining;  so  that  I 
shall  most  probably  remain  where  I  am,  watching  the 
hues  of  the  revolving  year,  —  as  reasonable  an  occupa 
tion,  and  probably  as  profitable  a  one,  as  any  that  politi 
cal  life  would  afford." 

To  his  son-in-law,  who  remained  in  France  as  Charge 
d' Affaires  of  the  United  States,  he  had  written  in  the 
month  of  August :  — 

"  I  wish  you  were  with  us,  my  dear  Barton,  in  this 
delightful  retirement,  which  does  not  lose  its  charms  for 
me  by  the  comparison  I  make  between  its  natural  beauties 
and  the  highly  improved  grounds  of  England.  I  feel 
the  same  interest  that  I  formerly  felt  in  walking  through 
the  rough  walks  in  our  woods,  and  in  planning  new  ones; 
but  I  want  you  to  help  me." 

In  January,  1836,  he  visited  Washington,  to  attend 
the  term  of  the  Supreme  Court;  where  he  was  engaged 
to  appear  professionally  in  the  case  of  the  Municipal  Au 
thorities  of  the  City  of  New  Orleans,  appellants,  versus 
The  United  States,  respondents.  He  was  senior  counsel 
for  the  appellants ;  his  junior  associate  was  Daniel  Web 
ster,  and  the  other  side  was  very  ably  represented  by 
Benjamin  F.  Butler,  Attorney-General  of  the  United 
States.  The  discussion  was  opened  by  Mr.  Webster. 
Mr.  Butler,  in  the  course  of  his  argument,  and  in  sup 
port  of  some  of  his  positions,  cited  largely  from  Mr. 
Livingston's  answer  in  the  Batture  case,  and  in  such 
terms  of  respect  and  approval  as  elicited  from  the  latter, 
in  his  closing  address  to  the  court,  this  digression :  — 

"  The  reference  to  the  pamphlet  from  which  the  argu 
ment  has  been  drawn,  the  flattering  terms  in  which  the 

54 


LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

Attorney-General  has  been  pleased  to  speak  of  it,  and 
the  possibility  that  in  looking  at  it  the  court  may  recur 
to  other  parts  than  those  immediately  relating  to  the 
questions  before  them,  oblige  me  to  ask  their  indulgence 
for  a  single  observation,  irrelevant,  it  is  true,  to  the 
case,  but  which  I  am  happy  to  find  an  opportunity  of 
making.  That  pamphlet  was  written  under  circumstances 
in  which  the  author  thought,  and  still  thinks,  he  had 
suffered  grievous  wrongs,  —  wrongs  which  he  thought, 
and  still  thinks,  justified  the  warmth  of  language  in  which 
some  parts  of  his  argument  are  couched,  but  which  his 
respect  for  the  public  and  private  character  of  his  oppo 
nent,  always  obliged  him  to  regret  that  he  had  been  forced 
to  use.  He  is  happy,  however,  to  say  that  at  a  subse 
quent  period  the  friendly  intercourse  with  which,  prior 
to  that  breach,  he  had  been  honored,  was  renewed ;  that 
the  offended  party  forgot  the  injury,  and  that  the  other 
performed  the  more  difficult  task  (if  the  maxim  of  a 
celebrated  French  author  is  true)  of  forgiving  the  man 
upon  whom  he  had  inflicted  it.  The  court,  I  hope,  will 
excuse  this  personal  digression ;  but  I  could  not  avoid 
using  this  occasion  of  making  known  that  I  have  been 
spared  the  lasting  regret  of  reflecting  that  Jefferson  had 
descended  to  the  grave  with  a  feeling  of  ill-will  towards 


me."  * 


Whilst  Mr.  Livingston  was  at  Washington  on  this 
occasion,  Mr.  Barton  reached  the  capital  on  his  return 
from  France.  He  had  been  instructed  to  ask  for  the 
final  determination  of  the  French  government  as  to  the 
payment  of  the  instalments  due  under  the  treaty,  and,  in 
case  of  a  refusal  to  make  the  payment  without  further 
explanations,  to  return  to  the  United  States.  These  in 
structions  he  had  followed ;  and  the  French  Minister  of 

*  10  Peters's  Reports,  691. 


CONCLUSION. 

Foreign  Affairs  had  communicated  to  him  the  deter 
mination  of  His  Majesty's  government  to  pay  the  money 
as  soon  as  that  of  the  United  States  should  have  ex 
pressed  its  regret  at  the  misunderstanding  which  had 
arisen  between  the  two  governments,  and  should  have 
made  some  further  assurances,  of  which  the  minister,  al 
lowing  himself  a  very  broad  latitude  in  construing  the 
requirements  of  the  law  under  which  he  was  acting, 
proceeded  to  dictate  the  form.*  Mr.  Barton  had  there 
upon  demanded  his  passports,  and,  leaving  the  papers  of 
the  legation  in  custody  of  the  consul  of  the  United  States, 
hastened  to  Washington  to  report  the  affair  personally 
to  the  President.  Mr.  Livingston,  whom  he  found  there, 
accompanied  him  to  the  White  House.  On  their  way 
thither,  they  were  joined  by  the  Vice-President  and  the 
Secretary  of  State,  who  during  the  walk  betrayed  a 
good  deal  of  anxiety  as  to  the  matter  of  the  statement 
about  to  be  made.  This  did  not  escape  the  notice  of 
Mr.  Barton.  Turning  to  them  as  they  were  about  to 
enter,  he  inquired  of  them,  in  a  tone  half  playful,  half 
earnest,  — 

"  Well,  Gentlemen,  shall  it  be  oil  or  water "?  " 
"  Oh,  water,  by  all  means !  "   exclaimed  both,  in   the 
same  breath. 

*  The  proviso  annexed  to  the  law  the  United    States  is   ready,  on    its 

which  authorized  the  fulfilment  of  the  part,  to  declare  to  us,  by  addressing 

treaty  forbade   the   payment   of    the  its  claim  to  us  officially,  in  writing, 

money   until    "  the    French   govern-  that  it  regrets  the  misunderstanding 

ment   should  have  received  satisfac-  which   has   arisen   between    the    two 

tory  explanations  with  regard  to  the  countries ;    that   this  misunderstand- 

message  of  the  President  of  the  Un-  ing  is  founded  on  a  mistake  ;  that  it 

ion,    under    date    of    December    2,  never  entered    into    its    intention  to 

1834."  —  Momteur   of    igth    April,  call    in    question    the  good  faith  of 

1835.      What    the    French    govern-  the  French  government,  nor  to  take 

ment  chose  to  regard   as   "satisfac-  a  menacing  attitude  towards  France." 

tory  explanations  "  will  appear  from  And  he  added,  "  If  the  government 

the  following  extract  from  the  Due  of  the  United  States  does  not  give 

de   Broglie's  note  referred  to  in  the  this  assurance,   we   shall   be   obliged 

text.      "  We  will  pay  the  money,"  to   think  that  this  misunderstanding 

said  he,  "  when  the  government  of  is  not  the  result  of  an  error." 


428  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

"  That,  Gentlemen,  will,  I  think,  be  the  effect  of  what 
I  shall  have  to  say." 

Mr.  Livingston,  during  the  whole  time  that  had  passed 
since  Mr.  Barton's  arrival,  had  carefully  avoided  any 
question  as  to  the  nature  of  the  communication  which 
the  latter  might  think  it  his  duty  to  make.  Feeling,  cer 
tainly,  no  less  solicitude  than  his  companions  as  to  the 
possibly  momentous  result  of  the  interview  about  to  take 
place,  he  yet  entirely  confided  in  his  friend's  discretion,  — 
a  delicate  forbearance  which  the  young  man  could  not 
but  feelingly  appreciate,  and  which  he  acknowledged  by 
a  pressure  of  the  hand  at  the  moment  when  they  were 
on  the  point  of  entering  the  room  of  the  excited  Presi 
dent. 

Jackson,  immediately  after  the  interview,  prepared  a 
special  message  to  Congress,  which  he  submitted  to  the 
judgment  of  Livingston.  The  latter  disapproved  the 
paper,  and  drew  himself  a  substitute,  which  he  sent  to 
the  President  with  the  following  note :  — 

"  January  u,  1836. 

"  MY  DEAR  GENERAL  :  Professions  on  my  part,  in 
communicating  with  you,  wrould  be  worse  than  useless  : 
they  would  imply  a  suspicion  that  there  was  a  want  of 
confidence  which  for  twenty  years  has  been  uninterrupted. 
During  that  time  you  have  known  my  attachment  to 
your  person,  and  my  desire  to  promote  your  public  repu 
tation,  always  identified  in  my  mind  with  the  glory  of 
our  country.  I,  therefore,  though  no  longer  one  of  your 
official  advisers,  take  the  liberty,  at  times,  of  offering  my 
advice  freely  on  subjects  where  I  think  it  may  be  of 
use. 

"  Such  a  case  now  occurs.  The  message  about  to  be 
delivered  is  one  of  no  ordinary  importance :  it  may  pro- 


CONCLUSION. 

duce  war  or  secure  peace.  Should  the  French  govern 
ment  be  content  to  receive  your  last  message,  they  will 
not  do  so  until  they  have  seen  this.  There  should  not, 
therefore,  he  anything  in  it  unnecessarily  irritating. 
You  have  told  them  home-truths  in  the  first.  You 
have  made  a  case  that  will  unite  every  American  feeling 
on  the  side  of  our  country.  It  cannot  be  made  stronger, 
and  to  repeat  it  would  be  unnecessary.  The  draft  you 
did  me  the  honor  to  show  me  would  make  an  admira 
ble  manifesto  or  a  declaration  of  war ;  but  we  are  not 
yet  come  to  that.  The  world  would  give  it  that  char 
acter  ;  and,  issued  before  we  know  the  effect  of  the  first 
message,  it  would  be  considered  as  precipitate. 

"  The  characteristics  of  the  present  communication 
ought,  in  my  opinion,  to  be  moderation  and  firmness. 
Our  cause  is  so  good,  that  we  need  not  be  violent.  Mod 
eration  in  language,  firmness  in  purpose,  will  unite  all 
hearts  at  home,  all  opinions  abroad,  in  our  favor.  Warmth 
and  recrimination  will  give  arguments  to  false  friends 
and  real  enemies,  which  they  may  use  with  effect  against 
us.  On  these  principles  I  have  framed  the  hasty  draft 
which  I  enclose.  You  will  with  your  usual  discernment 
determine  whether  it  suits  the  present  emergency.  At 
any  rate,  I  know  that  you  will  do  justice  to  the  motive 
that  has  induced  me  to  offer  it. 
"  Yours, 

"Eow.  LIVINGSTON." 

The  reader  who  examines  the  message  which  was 
sent  to  Congress,  dated  the  15th  of  January,  1836,  will 
find  that  it  is  not  "a  declaration  of  war,"  nor  in  any  sense 
"  violent,"  but  that  its  "  moderation  in  language "  is 
equalled  by  its  "firmness  in  purpose."  Indeed,  its  tone 
of  determination,  though  quiet,  is  intense.  It  produced 


430  LIFE    OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

the  best  effect  possible.  England  immediately  afterwards 
offered  her  friendly  services  as  mediator  between  the 
United  States  and  France.  General  Jackson  promptly 
accepted  the  offer,  but  with  distinct  notice  and  open  res 
ervation  that  his  government  would  never  recede  from  the 
ground  it  had  taken.  This  kind  of  judicial  submission, 
in  which  one  party  decides  the  cause  in  his  own  favor 
beforehand,  may  seem  ludicrous,  but  it  really  took  place 
in  this  important  international  case ;  for  France  also  ac 
cepted  the  proposed  arbitrament,  notwithstanding  the 
vital  reservation  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  mediator  seemed  prepared  to  decide  as  General  Jack 
son  had  already  done ;  but  France  saved  England  the 
trouble  by  declaring  herself  ready  to  pay  the  money, 
and  the  disturbed  ancient  amity  of  the  two  nations  was 
happily  and  at  once  restored. 

This  visit  at  Washington  was  Mr.  Livingston's  last 
absence  from  his  family,  and  the  occasion  of  the  last  of 
his  letters  to  them.  Of  these,  the  following  is  an  ex 
tract  from  the  latest  one,  dated  February  5,  1 836 :  — 

"  How  can  you  say,  my  dearest  wife,  as  you  have  done 
in  several  of  your  letters,  that  you  can  do  nothing  to 
secure  the  happiness  of  our  family,  and  that  all  the 
merit  is  mine  1  What  have  you  done  for  these  thirty 
years  past  but  to  direct  me  by  your  wise  suggestions, 
to  restrain  me  by  your  prudence  from  rash  undertak 
ings,  to  encourage  me  in  every  honorable  and  useful 
pursuit,  and  to  console  me  under  afflictions  and  disap 
pointments  that  would  have  overwhelmed  me  and  made 
me  relinquish  every  effort,  if  you  had  not  been  at  my 
side  to  teach  me  how  to  bear  them  ?  What  I  am  I  owe 
chiefly  to  you;  and  I  will  not  permit  you  to  undervalue 
the  aid  you  have  given  me." 

Mr.  Livingston  passed  the  remainder  of  the  winter  in 


CONCLUSION.  431 

New  York,  and  early  in  the  spring  was  once  more 
among  his  huds  at  Montgomery  Place.  He  anticipated 
a  summer  of  tranquillity  and  complete  happiness.  The 
correspondence  which  his  hold  upon  public  attention,  at 
home  and  abroad,  imposed,  formed  no  drawback  to  his 
ease ;  for  he  despatched  it  as  if  it  were  a  recreation, 
though  with  methodical  exactness.  His  capacity  for  en 
joyment  was  in  no  way  impaired,  except  by  a  partial 
deafness  which  had  been  growing  upon  him  gradually 
for  many  years.  His  relish  for  out-of-door  occupation 
was  as  strong  as  it  had  ever  been.  About  the  middle 
of  May,  he  planned  an  excursion  to  Long  Island  for 
trout-fishing,  in  company  with  one  or  two  friends. 

In  the  night  preceding  Saturday,  the  21st  of  the  month, 
he  was  taken  suddenly  and  violently  ill  with  bilious  colic. 
During  the  next  two  days  he  obtained  scarcely  any 
relief  from  excruciating  bodily  pain,  his  vigorous  con 
stitution  and  unimpaired  strength  only  adding  to  the 
agony  of  his  sufferings.  He  bore  them  with  the  quiet 
fortitude  which  nature  had  given  him,  and  which  had 
been  perfected  by  the  lessons  of  misfortune  and  grief. 
Urbanity  and  habitual  consideration  for  the  interests  and 
feelings  of  those  about  him  continued  to  mark  his  de 
meanor  as  much  as  they  had  done  while  his  health  was 
perfect.  When  an  old  family  servant  who  had  injured 
his  foot  entered  his  room,  he  gently  reproved  him  for 
his  imprudence  in  coming  up-stairs,  but  thanked  him  for 
the  feeling  which  had  prompted  the  exertion. 

He  was  delirious  for  a  few  hours,  during  which  time 
he  spoke  of  nothing  but  his  rural  pursuits,  his  eyes  spark 
ling  as  he  dwelt  proudly  upon  his  success  in  transplant 
ing  the  locust  in  full  leaf,  and  repeated  with  animation 
that  it  would  revolutionize  that  part  of  horticultural  pro 
ceedings.  Speech  left  him  after  his  return  to  conscious- 


LIFE   OF   EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

ness ;  but  he  still  welcomed,  with  an  extended  hand  or 
a  benignant  smile,  those  who  approached  his  bed. 

On  Monday,  the  £3d  of  May,  1836,  within  five  days 
of  the  completion  of  his  seventy-second  year,  he  ex 
pired,  easily,  serenely,  and  cheerfully,  surrounded  by  his 
family  and  many  of  his  friends.  His  sister,  the  pious 
Mrs.  Garretson,  then  eighty-five  years  of  age,  had  been 
constantly  with  him  during  his  brief  illness. 

To  those  who  had  known  him  his  death  seemed  pre 
mature  ;  for  no  one  had  come  to  regard  him  as  an  old 
man.  It  was  remarked  that  his  black  hair  resting  upon 
the  pillow  of  his  coffin  presented  a  striking  contrast  with 
the  record  of  his  years  inscribed  upon  the  lid. 

His  remains  were  laid  beside  those  of  his  mother,  in 
the  vault  of  the  family  at  Clermont,  the  place  of  his  birth. 
A  plain  tablet,  placed  by  his  wife  and  daughter  in  the 
Dutch  Reformed  church  at  the  village  of  Rhinebeck, 
bears  a  simple  inscription,  describing  him  as  "  a  man,  for 
talents  equalled  by  few,  for  virtues  surpassed  by  none." 

Montgomery  Place,  possessed  by  his  widow  till  her 
death  in  I860,*  and  since  then  by  their  daughter,  Mrs. 

*  Mrs.  Livingston  passed  her  wid-  coach.  As  we  were  about  to  depart 
owhood  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  cen-  from  one  of  the  stations,  my  husband 
tury  in  complete  retirement.  She  and  myself  occupying  the  back  seat, 
died,  as  for  many  years  she  had  lived,  and  all  the  other  places,  but  one, 
a  member  of  the  Methodist  church,  being  filled,  a  plain  man,  holding 
No  circumstance  was  wanting  to  per-  by  the  hand  a  very  pretty  young 
feet  the  contrast  between  the  begin-  girl,  presented  himself  at  the  side  of 
ning  and  the  close  of  her  days.  The  the  vehicle,  and  carefully  scanned 
memory  of  her  husband,  his  charac-  the  faces  of  all  the  passengers.  Af 
ter,  his  actions,  and  his  fame,  con-  ter  doing  so,  he  turned  to  my  hus- 
tinued  paramount  in  her  thoughts  band  and  said,  '  I  was  looking  for 
and  conversation  to  the  last.  The  some  one  to  whom  I  might  confide 
following  was  one  of  her  latest  rem-  the  charge  of  my  daughter,  who  is 
iniscences  of  him,  given  to  a  friend,  obliged  to  travel  without  a  protector 
with  temporary  animation  at  a  time  for  some  distance.  I  think  I  must 
when  she  was  almost  too  feeble  to  select  you.'  *  You  judge  rightly, 
converse.  "  On  one  of  our  return-  my  friend,'  said  I,  '  you  judge  right- 
ing  journeys  to  New  Orleans,"  she  ly ;  he  has  been  the  protector  of  in- 
said,  "we  were  travelling  through  nocence  all  his  life.'" 
the  interior  of  Pennsylvania  by  stage- 


CONCLUSION.  4,33 

Barton,  remains  much  as  he  left  it.  His  library  and 
the  rooms  he  particularly  occupied  have  scarcely  been 
disturbed.  His  locust-tree  still  flourishes  upon  the 
lawn.  His  gun,  flint-locked  and  rusty,  and  his  fishing- 
rod  stand  where  he  last  placed  them,  in  a  corner  of  the 
library.  In  this  room,  —  a  square  apartment,  with  plain 
shelves  from  floor  to  ceiling,  —  the  writer  passed  some 
thoughtful  days  in  reading  the  late'  occupant's  lar^e  cor 
respondence  with  many  of  the  leading  spirits  and  think 
ers  of  his  time. 

The  honors  paid  to  Livingston's  memory,  publicly  and 
privately,  immediately  after  his  death,  were  all  that  his 
reasonable  ambition  could  have  craved.  "  A  purer,  sweet 
er,  or  superior  spirit,"  said  Charles  J.  Ingersoll,  "  seldom 
has  departed.  He  belonged  to  a  peerage  of  which  there 
are  very  few  members." 

The  young  Theodore  Sedgwick,  the  third  eminent 
man,  in  direct  succession,  of  the  name,  wrote,  "  I 
shall  never  cease  to  rejoice  that  I  had  an  opportunity, 
though  how  much  too  brief!  of  knowing  one  who  was 
an  honor  no  less  to  his  race  than  to  his  country." 

"  I  have  lost  a  friend,"  was  the  language  of  another 
young  and  ardent  admirer  of  his  character,  "whom 
pride,  esteem,  and  affection  conspired  to  make  dear  to 
me.  Nor  could  I  ever  tell  whether  I  loved  or  admired 
him  most.  His  social  and  endearing  qualities  were 
equal  to  the  splendor  of  his  intellect  and  the  glory  of 
his  life." 

The  common  council  of  the  city  of  New  York,  in 
publicly  noticing  his  death,  declared  that  he  had  been 
"a  leader  in  every  enterprise  calculated  to  improve  or 
adorn  society.  Whether  in  courts  or  camps,  his  philo 
sophic  mind  seemed  to  comprehend  within  its  ample 
limit  the  whole  human  race." 

55 


434-  LIFE   OF   EDWARD   LIVINGSTON. 

At  the  close  of  a  long  oration,  devoted  to  a  review  of 
the  life  and  character  of  the  departed  Academician,  de 
livered  before  the  new  Academy  of  the  Institute  of 
France,  M.  Mignet,  the  historian,  said,  "  By  the  death 
of  Mr.  Livingston,  America  has  lost  her  most  powerful 
intellect,  the  Academy  one  of  its  most  illustrious  mem 
bers,  and  Humanity  one  of  her  most  zealous  benefac- 

"  & 
tors. 

Of  a  like  tenor  was  the  general  voice,  not  only  of 
municipal  bodies  and  political  societies  in  several  States, 
but  of  eminent  men  and  of  learned  and  philanthropic 
associations  in  America  and  in  Europe.  The  Society 
of  St.  Tammany  commemorated  his  death  and  that  of 
the  illustrious  Madison,  in  the  same  series  of  resolutions. 
The  Masonic  General  Grand  Chapter  of  the  United 
States,  of  which,  as  the  successor  of  De  Witt  Clinton, 
upon  the  death  of  the  latter,  he  had  been  since  1829,  by 
three  triennial  elections,  the  official  head,  adopted,  as  a 
memorial  forming  a  page  of  its  records,  an  elaborate 
epitaph,  reciting  the  principal  events  and  actions  of  his 
life.  The  Guatemalan  government  ordered  the  observ 
ance  of  a  public  mourning  for  him. 


Thus  I  have  sketched  the  leading  events  of  Living 
ston's  life,  as  my  researches  have  presented  them  to  my 
own  mind.  The  reflection  which  has  proceeded  from 
the  task  has,  more  than  anything  else,  impressed  me 
with  the  conviction,  that,  in  biography  as  well  as  in 
history,  complete  accuracy  is  only  to  be  approached, 

*  "  Par  la  mort  de  M.  Livingston,  un  de  ses  plus  zeles  bienfaiteurs."  — 

TAmerique   a   perdu   sa   plus   forte  Eloge  Historique  de  M.  Livingston, 

intelligence,    1*  Academic  un  de  ses  par   M.    Mignet,    etc.  etc.      Paris, 

plus  illustres  associ^s,  et  1'humanite  1838. 


CONCLUSION.  435 

not  attained.  At  least,  I  can  only  pretend  to  have  fairly 
reflected  the  actual  impressions  derived  by  one  mind 
from  a  diligent  study  of  abundant  materials.  I  trust 
the  reader  has  been  furnished  with  sufficient  facts  from 
which  to  deduce  for  himself  a  satisfactory  estimate  of 
the  genius  and  character  of  Livingston ;  while  I  follow 
a  settled  custom  in  tracing  some  outline  of  the  concep 
tion  I  have  myself  formed. 

In  looking  at  the  character  of  Edward  Livingston,  the 
quality  which  first  invites  attention  is  the  very  uncom 
mon  breadth  of  his  sympathies.  Whatever  rightfully 
interests  human  beings,  —  government,  laws,  knowledge, 
science,  taste,  society,  civilization,  affairs,  amusement, 
religion,  —  had  always  a  genuine  and  hearty  interest 
for  him.  This  imparted  the  peculiar  zest  which  he  found 
in  the  simple  acquisition  of  knowledge, — a  zest  which 
with  him  continued  to  be  as  keen  in  old  age  as  it  had 
been  in  youth,  and  which  led  to  the  variety  and  depth  of 
his  merely  intellectual  attainments,  gained,  as  they  were, 
during  an  unceasing  whirl  of  active  labor,  care,  and  ex 
citement. 

The  same  quality,  not  less  than  simple  benevolence,  was 
the  foundation  of  his  philanthropy,  in  which  there  was 
not  a  tinge  of  bigotry  or  austerity.  His  scheme  for  the 
reformation  of  penal  jurisprudence,  cherished  and  worked 
upon  during  all  his  adult  life,  never  became  a  rigid  and 
unalterable  theory,  but  was  the  subject  of  improving 
touches  from  time  to  time,  such  as  came  from  continued 
reflection,  or  from  new  light  laboriously  gained. 

From  this  pervading  human  interest  came  the  prac 
tical,  many-sided  capacity  which  enabled  him  to  pass 
rapidly  through  various  employments,  those  of  advo 
cate,  legislator,  executive,  judge,  publicist,  cabinet  minis 
ter,  and  diplomatist,  and  to  easily  distinguish  himself  in 


436  LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

all,  without  ever  ceasing  to  be  a  loving  relative,  a  genial 
friend,  and  a  jovial  companion. 

The  innate  democracy  of  his  spirit  proceeded  from  the 
same  source.  He  estimated  men,  even  kings,  at  what, 
upon  candid  scrutiny,  he  found  to  be  their  inherent  value. 
Neither  in  his  public  writings  and  speeches,  nor  in  the 
mass  of  his  unpublished  manuscripts  which  I  have  exam 
ined,  have  I  discovered  a  word  to  indicate  that  he  deemed 
his  birth  to  be  better  than  that  of  any  other  American 
citizen.  He  was  proud  of  his  brother's  public  services, 
of  his  father's  virtues,  and  of  his  grandfather's  accom 
plishments,  but  seemed  scarcely  to  have  heard  that  the 
family  pedigree  extended  further.  In  his  intercourse 
with  men,  public  and  private,  he  always  stood  squarely 
upon  his  intrinsic  merits.  When  he  undertook  the  office 
of  Secretary  of  State,  he  solemnly  measured  his  qualifi 
cations  by  those  of  his  predecessor,  and  sincerely  dis 
trusted  his  own.  A  man  of  narrower,  though  equally 
powerful  mind,  might  have  found  his  judgment,  in  such 
a  comparison,  influenced  in  some  degree  by  the  fact  that 
the  other  was  a  self-educated  son  of  a  farmer  in  the  same 
county  where  his  own  family  name  had  been  a  somewhat 
lordly  one  for  several  generations. 

Considering  his  great  abilities,  his  strong  inclination 
to  public  affairs,  and  the  circumstances  which  so  greatly 
favored  his  political  advancement,  the  moderateness  of 
his  ambition  was  a  striking  and  singular  trait.  In  his 
democratic  opinions  there  was  no  mixture  of  demagogic 
views.  Heartily  aiming  to  win  distinction,  he  was  not 
accustomed  to  fear  or  court 

"  The  rabble's  noisy  censure  or  applause." 

The  reputation  which  he  desired  and  strove  after  he  had 
no  idea  of  attaining  except  by  well  and  clearly  earning 
it.  I  scrutinized  the  whole  mass  of  draughts  of  letters 


CONCLUSION. 


437 


which  he  left,  in  order  to  see  if  a  single  sentence  in  them 
indicated  that  he  had,  at  any  time,  aimed  to  reach  a 
higher  office  than  he  enjoyed,  namely,  the  Presidency 
of  the  United  States ;  and  it  did  not  appear  that  such  a 
thought  ever  entered  his  mind.  In  this  he  is  a  hright 
example,  if  they  would  only  observe  it,  to  those  troops  of 
scantily  cultured  men  who  coarsely  aspire  to  the  chief 
magistracy  of  a  great  nation,  avithout  taking  anything  like 
corresponding  pains  to  make  themselves  qualified  to  adorn 
a  station  so  exalted. 

As  for  his  intellect,  it  was  one  of  general  acuteness 
and  uniform  power,  without  any  dull  side  or  any  dazzling 
gift;  just  as  his  writings  and  speeches  present  few  salient, 
distinct,  and  quotable  beauties,  but  rather  a  steady  felicity, 
a  constant  power,  and  a  pervading  eloquence. 

But  this  grand  capacity  was  not  perfectly  rounded. 
One  faculty  it  signally  lacked.  At  no  period  of  his  life 
was  he  competent,  practically,  to  manage  financial  affairs. 
In  this  one  regard  he  was  not  much  more  than  a  child. 
It  was  as  if  a  guardian  genius  had  purchased  for  him 
gifts  sufficing  for  all  other  emergencies,  by  debarring 
him  from  one  important  endowment  which  even  the 
stupid  often  possess.  If  the  dull  favorites  of  Mammon 
ever  envied  his  shining  parts,  they  perhaps  found  com 
fort  in  the  substance  of  the  maxim  from  Chaucer,  — 

"  The  gretest  clerkes  ben  not  the  wisest  men." 

His  moral  nature  was  a  rare  assemblage  of  con 
trasted  virtues.  The  courage  and  force  of  will  with 
which,  at  the  age  of  forty,  he  set  about  the  mending 
of  his  suddenly  broken  fortunes,  the  fortitude  with 
which  he  afterwards  bore  up  against  the  disappoint 
ments  of  twenty  years,  and  the  tremendous  combative 
energy  with  which  he  conducted  the  controversy  against 
Jefferson,  would  seem  to  be  qualities  of  so  hardy  a 


438  LIFE   OF    EDWARD    LIVINGSTON. 

kind  as  to  be  likely  to  choke  out  some  of  the  more  re 
fined  principles  which  have  their  seat  in  the  heart.  But 
with  him  it  was  not  so.  Prosperity  had  not  spoiled, 
and  adversity  could  not  sour  him.  During  his  long 
buffet  with  misfortune  he  did  not  become  capable  of 
harboring  resentment ;  he  "  spoke  no  evil "  of  his  ad 
versaries;  he  grew  eager  to  forgive  the  man  who  had 
inflicted  on  him  what  he  never  ceased  to  think  was  a 
capital  injury:  at  the  same  time  he  made  free  sacrifices 
to  local  public  good,  and  went  through  gigantic  labors 
for  the  good  of  his  whole  race ;  while  in  the  little  things 
of  every-day  life  he  had  abundant  sympathy,  and  no 
scorn  for  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  all  who  came 
about  him. 

In  the  cardinal  points  of  morality  his  life-long  con 
duct  appears  to  have  been  blameless.  His  writings, 
public  and  private,  contain  frequent  traces  of  religious 
faith  and  religious  sentiment,  but  no  trace  of  theologi 
cal  views. 

The  single  flaw  which  I  have  found  in  this  character 
—  in  reality  there  may  have  been  others  which  I  have 
failed  to  perceive,  but,  if  there  were  such,  they  must 
have  been  of  a  minor  and  not  palpable  sort,  I  am  per 
suaded  —  sprung  from  the  defective  faculty  which  has 
been  often  noticed  in  these  pages.  The  owing  of  debts 
after  they  are  due,  when  it  becomes  a  settled  habit, 
even  though  starting  out  of  pure  misfortune,  and  not 
accompanied  by  any  deliberate  or  conscious  intention  to 
do  wrong,  must,  it  would  seem,  beget  in  the  course  of 
a  lifetime  a  less  active  consideration  for  the  rights  of 
deferred  creditors  than  is  consistent  with  a  perfect  sense 
of  justice.  This  habit  is  the  cause  of  shipwreck  to  many 
not  unpromising  characters ;  it  is  a  rock  of  danger  to 
any  but  the  stanchest  in  general  principle ;  and  the  suf- 


CONCLUSION.  439 

fering  which  it  always  costs  the  man  upon  whom  it  gets 
fastened,  however  great  or  good  he  may  be,  furnishes, 
wherever  it  is  seen,  an  important  lesson. 

From  so  much  excellence  this  surely  is  a  small  de 
duction.  After  it  is  allowed  as  freely  as  it  may  be,  the 
character  of  Livingston  remains  one  in  which  we  may 
say,  speaking  with  the  limitations  which  belong  to  all 
descriptions  of  finite  worth,  that  there  was  nothing 
sordid,  nothing  false,  nothing  coarse,  —  a  character  on 
the  whole  singularly  heroic,  simple,  and  Christian. 


INDEX. 


ADAIR,  General,  202. 

Adams,  John,  his  action  in  the  case 
of  Jonathan  Robbins,  81. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  his  speech  on 
the  conduct  of  France  in  failing 
to  fulfil  the  treaty  of  July  4,  1831, 
422. 

Alexander,  Mr.,  his  arrest  by  Gen 
eral  Wilkinson,  133. 

Alien  bill,  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  75-80. 

Ames,  Fisher,  member  of  Congress 
in  1795,  64.  His  part  in  the  dis 
cussions  upon  Jay's  treaty,  68,  73. 

Analectic  Magazine,  42,  note. 

Armstrong,  General  John,  16,  360. 
Vide  Letters  and  Extracts. 

Armstrong,  Mrs.  John,  16,  114. 

Ballard,  Captain,  389. 

Barton,  Thomas  P.,  his  marriage  to 
Cora  Livingston,  384.  Secreta 
ry  of  the  French  legation,  Id. 
Charge  d' 'Affaires,  400.  Demands 
passports,  returns  home,  and  reports 
in  person  to  the  President,  426- 
428.  Vide  Letters  and  Extracts. 

Barton,  Mrs.  Thomas  P.,  384.  Vide 
Letters  and  Extracts. 

Batture  Ste.  Marie,  acquisition  of, by 
Edward  Livingston,  115.  Allu 
sion  to  the  controversy  respecting 
the  title,  /</.,  122,  134.  An  ac 
count  of  the  controversy,  135-183. 

Bayard,  James  A.,  leads  the  Feder 
alists  in  opposition  to  Jefferson's 
election,  85-87. 

Benson,  Egbert,  48,  50,  52. 

Bentham,  Jeremy,  study  of  his  writ 
ings  by  Edward  Livingston,  96, 
note.  Proposes  the  printing  the 


Livingston  Code  by  Parliament, 
278.  Vide  Letters  and  Extracts. 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  283. 

Bernadotte  (Charles  Jean),  108  and 
note,  278  and  note. 

Blount,  Mr.,  of  North  Carolina, 
his  resolutions  on  Jay's  treaty, 
67. 

Bollman,  Dr.,  his  arrest  by  Gen 
eral  Wilkinson,  127.  Presents  a 
draft  on  Edward  Livingston  from 
Aaron  Burr,  130.  Carried  un 
der  arrest  to  Washington,  133. 

Broglie,  the  Due  de,  401. 

Buchanan,  George,  his  "  Rerum 
Scoticarum  Historia,"  i. 

Burgoyne,  General,  surrender  of,  36. 

Burr,  Aaron,  mention  of,  41,  48. 
His  country-seat,  46.  Remarks 
upon  his  duel  with  Hamilton,  and 
upon  his  character,  54-56.  His 
election  to  the  Vice- Presidency, 
84.  His  conduct  during  the  elec 
tion,  84-87.  Gives  to  Dr.  Boll 
man  a  draft  on  Edward  Living 
ston,  130. 

Burr,  Theodosia,  97. 

Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  425. 

Butler,  Thomas  L.,  200. 

Carleton,  Judge  Henry,  123,  125. 
Vide  Letters  and  Extracts. 

Charles  Jean  (Bernadotte)  of  Sweden. 
Vide  Letters  and  Extracts. 

Claiborne,  W.  C.  C.,  Governor  of 
Louisiana,  140,  196,  197. 

Clay,  Henry,  mention  of,  283.  A 
senator  of  the  United  States,  330. 
Leader  of  the  opposition,  367. 
Moves  a  scrutiny  into  the  circum 
stances  of  the  settlement  of  ac- 


INDEX. 


counts  between  the  United  States 
and  Mr.  Livingston,  Id.  Ac 
quiesces  in  the  confirmation  of 
the  latter  as  Secretary  of  State,  Id. 
Yet  maligns  Livingston  after  his 
death,  Id.,  note. 

Clermont,  estate  of  Judge  Robert 
R.  Livingston,  29.  Visit  of  La 
fayette  at,  in  1824,  44,  note. 

Clinton,  De  Witt,  mention  of,  73. 
Resigns  his  seat  in  the  United 
States  Senate  to  become  Mayor  of 
New  York,  90.  His  action  in  the 
matter  of  the  removal  of  Gen 
eral  Montgomery's  remains  from 
Canada,  244-246.  His  death, 

434- 

Clinton,  Sir  Henry,  36. 

Code,  The  Livingston,  some  ac 
count  of,  255-275.  Its  reputa 
tion,  276-281,  381. 

Crichton,  Chancellor,  i,  2. 

Dallas,  Alexander  James,  367  and 
note. 

Dallas,  George  M.,  357.  His  de 
fence  of  Mr.  Livingston  in  the 
Senate,  on  the  occasion  of  Mr. 
Clay's  scrutiny,  367.  Vide  Let 
ters  and  Extracts. 

D'Avezac,  Armand,  124  and  note. 

Davezac,  Jules,  translator  of  the  Liv 
ingston  Code,  276  and  note. 

Davezac  de  Castera,  Auguste,  125, 
213.  Acts  as  aid  and  judge-ad 
vocate  in  the  campaign  for  the  de 
fence  of  New  Orleans,  200  and 
note.  Charge,  d"1  Affaires  at  the 
Hague,  413.  Vide  Letters  and 
Extracts. 

Davezac  de  Castera,  Louise,  her 
marriage  to  Mr.  Livingston,  124. 
Her  history  and  family,  Id.  Her 
character,  125.  Her  influence 
with  her  husband,  365,  366.  Her 
death,  432.  Anecdote  related  by, 
/</.,  note.  Vide  Letters  and  Ex 
tracts. 

Doll,  Dominie,  31.  His  daughter, 
Id.  and  note.  His  school  at  Eso- 
pus,  33.  Removal  to  Hurley, 

37- 
Douglas,  Earl  of,  his  murder  at  Edin- 

boro'  Castle,  2. 

Douglas,  David,  his  assassination,  2. 
Duane,  James,  his  farm,  46.     Mayor 
56 


and  Judge,  48.  His  career,  49. 
Decision  in  the  case  of  Rutgers 
<versus  Waddington,  49,  50. 
Du  Ponceau,  Peter  S.,  revises  the 
press  for  Livingston's  answer  in 
the  Batture  case,  179,  180.  Cor 
respondence  with  Livingston,  283, 
287-294.  His  friendship  for  Liv 
ingston,  287.  Vide  Letters  and 
Extracts. 

Elliott,  Commodore,  415. 
Esopus  (Kingston),  33-36. 

Fleming,  Sir  Malcolm,  his  assassi 
nation  at  Edinboro'  Castle,  2. 

Foot's  resolution,  debate  upon,  in 
the  Senate,  330.  Speech  of  Ed 
ward  Livingston  upon,  330-351. 

Forsyth,  John,  400,  427,  428. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  allusion  to,  26. 

Gallatin,  Albert,  64,  69,  73. 
Garretson,  Rev.  Freeborn,  16. 
Garretson,  Mrs.  Freeborn,   16,  424, 
432.     Vide  Letters  and  Extracts. 
Gates,  General  Horatio,  36. 
Giles,  William  B.,  39,  64,  68,  69, 

73- 

Grasse,  the  Count  de,  gratitude  to, 
expressed  by  Congress,  80. 

Guatemala,  adoption  of  one  of  Liv 
ingston's  codes  in,  279.  Public 
mourning  by,  on  the  death  of  Liv 
ingston,  434. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  41,  48.  His 
first  eminence  as  a  lawyer,  49. 
His  argument  in  the  case  of  Rut 
gers  versus  Waddington,  49,  50. 
Remarks  upon  his  duel  with  Burr, 
54-56.  His  action  in  congres 
sional  canvass  at  New  York,  in 

'796>  73,  74- 

Harrison,  Richard,  90. 

Hobart,  John  Sloss,  52. 

Hoffmann,  Josiah  Ogden,  48. 

Hotham,  Commodore,  36. 

Howe,  Admiral,  36. 

Huger,  Mr.,  of  South  Carolina,  87. 

Hugo,  Victor,  277,  405.  Vide  Let 
ters  and  Extracts. 

Ingersoll,  Charles  J.,  anecdote  re 
lated  by,  97.  His  character  of 
Livingston,  433. 


INDEX. 


Jackson,  Andrew,  a  member  of 
Congress  in  1796,  64.  His  vote 
against  the  address  to  Washing 
ton,  65.  Appointed  Major-Gen 
eral,  197.  Issues  proclamations 
from  Mobile,  Id.  Repairs  to 
New  Orleans,  Id.  His  reception 
and  speech,  Id.  His  intimacy 
with  Livingston,  198.  Employs 
the  services  of  the  latter  in  vari 
ous  capacities,  Id.  Declares  mar 
tial  law,  Id.  Appoints  Lewis  Liv 
ingston  a  Captain,  199.  Reviews 
the  troops  in  the  city,  Id.  Tri 
umphal  return  to  the  city  after  the 
repulse  of  the  enemy,  201.  In 
fluence  of  Livingston  over  him, 
202.  His  action  in  the  case  of  the 
brothers  Lafitte,  203.  His  arrest 
of  Judge  Hall,  and  subsequent  an 
swer  for  contempt  of  court,  207, 
208.  Presents  his  miniature  to 
Mr.  Livingston,  208..  Plan  of 
writing  his  life  by  the  latter,  209 
and  note.  Becomes  a  senator  of 
the  United  States,  311.  Growing 
intimacy  with  Livingston,  312- 
316.  Support  of,  by  the  latter,  in 
1824  and  1828,  316.  His  entry 
upon  the  Presidency,  326.  -Veto  of 
internal  improvement  bills,  353. 
Dissolution  of  the  Van  Buren  cab 
inet,  357.  His  manner  of  urging 
the  Secretaryship  of  State  upon  Mr. 
Livingston,  358.  His  proclama 
tion  to  nullifiers,  371-381.  Ap 
points  Mr.  Livingston  Minister  to 
France,  387.  His  irritation  at  the 
failure  of  the  French  government  to 
fulfil  the  treaty  of  July  4,  1 8  3 1 ,  394. 
His  instructions  to  Livingston, 
400.  His  approval  of  the  con 
duct  of  the  latter,  Id.^  422.  Re 
ceives  Mr.  Barton's  final  report  of 
the  state  of  the  affair  with  France, 
428.  His  message  to  Congress 
thereon,  428-430.  Vide  Letters 
and  Extracts. 

Jay,  John,  40.  His  treaty  consid 
ered  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  67-73. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  his  election  to  the 
Presidency  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives,  84-88.  Appoints  Ed 
ward  Livingston  Attorney  of  the 
United  States  at  New  York,  90. 


Invests  General  Wilkinson  with 
extraordinary  powers  in  the  matter 
of  Burr's  scheme  against  the  gov 
ernment,  127.  His  Batture  con 
troversy  with  Edward  Livingston, 
I35~I83.  His  pamphlet  on  that 
subject,  143.  Extracts  therefrom, 
144,  145,  171,  173,  175,  177. 
His  remarks  on  the  Livingston 
Code,  281.  Vide  Letters  and  Ex 
tracts. 

Johannes  Secundus,  a  translation 
from,  42,  note. 

Kent,  James,   48,    52,    222.      Vide 

Letters  and  Extracts. 
Kidd,  Captain,   his    commission    as 

privateer,  and   conduct  as  pirate, 

9,  10. 

King's  College  (Columbia),  30. 
Kingston  (Esopus),  33-36. 
Knox,   Rev.   John,   allusion    to   his 

"  Historic,"  etc.,  3. 
Kossuth,  Louis,  279. 

Lafayette,  General,  his  early  in 
timacy  with  the  family  of  Mar 
garet  Beekman  Livingston,  43. 
His  attentions  to  Edward  Liv 
ingston,  44.  His  visit  to  Amer 
ica  in  1824,  Id.)  note.  His  atten 
tions  to  Lewis  Livingston,  250- 
252.  His  death,  409.  Vide 
Letters  and  Extracts. 

Lafitte,  the  brothers,  203,  204. 

La  Rochefoucauld-Liancourt,  74. 

Latour,  Major  A.  Lacarriere,  199, 
215  and  note. 

Lawrence,  Major  William,  197. 

Leef  General,  39. 

Lee,  Henry,  his  appointment  to 
office  by  President  Jackson,  and 
rejection  by  the  Senate,  353,  354. 

Letters  and  Extracts.  Margaret  Beek 
man  Livingston  to  Mr.  Vander- 
kemp,  58,60.  Jeremy  Bentham to 
Edward  Livingston,  351.  Berna- 
dotte  (Charles  Jean,  of  Sweden) 
to  the  same,  278,  note.  George 
Clinton  to  the  same,  104.  Peter 
S.  Du  Ponceau  to  the  same,  287. 
Victor  Hugo  to  the  same,  277, 
405.  Andrew  Jackson  to  the 
same,  312,  313,  323,  371,  372. 
John  Jay  to  Chancellor  Living 
ston,  40.  Thomas  Jefferson  to  Ed- 


INDEX. 


ward  Livingston,  281,  284,  294. 
James  Kent  to  the  same,  181,  280. 
Lafayette  to  the  same,  108,  327, 
382,  409.  The  same  to  Mrs. 
Richard  Montgomery,  43.  Ma 
dame  Lafayette  to  Edward  Living 
ston,  108,  note.  Edward  Living 
ston  to  General  Armstrong,  360. 
The  same  to  Jeremy  Bentham, 
96,  note,  118,  note.  The  same  to 
the  Due  de  Broglie,  401.  The 
same  to  Judge  Carleton,  360. 
The  same  to  George  M.  Dallas, 
360,  364,  368,  369,  370,  411. 
The  same  to  Auguste  Davezac, 
413,  415.  The  same  to  Peter 
S.  Du  Ponceau,  45,  179,  283,  288, 
289,  291,  292,  298.  The  same  to 
Mrs.  Garretson,  113,  413.  The 
same  to  the  Howard  Society  of 
New  Jersey,  406.  The  same  to 
his  daughter,  325.  The  same  to 
his  son,  189,  191,  192,  213-243. 
The  same  to  his  wife,  358,  361, 
366,  430.  The  same  to  H.  Mar 
shall,  369.  The  same  to  members 
of  Congress,  175.  The  same  to 
Mrs.  Montgomery,  199,  201,  211. 
The  same  to  Timothy  Pickering, 
317.  The  same  to  the  Comte  de 
Rigny,  398.  The  same  to  Mrs. 
Tillotson,  125,  1 88.  Julia  Liv 
ingston  to  her  father,  187.  Lew 
is  Livingston  to  the  same,  212, 
250.  The  same  to  Mrs.  Mont 
gomery,  198,  201,  247.  Robert 
Livingston  (the  2d)  to  his  grand 
son,  19,  note.  Judge  Robert  R. 
Livingston  to  his  wife,  17.  The 
same  to  his  father,  22,  27.  •  The 
same  to  his  son,  23,  25.  Chan 
cellor  Robert  R.  Livingston^  to 
Edward  Livingston,  75.  Eti- 
enne  Mazureau  to  the  same,  121. 
Nicolas,  Emperor  of  Russia,  to 
the  same,  278,  note.  John  Ran 
dolph,  of  Roanoke,  to  the  same, 
382.  Captain  John  Reid  to  the 
same,  209,  note.  Martin  Van 
Buren  to  the  same,  356,  400. 
William  P.  Van  Ness  to  the 
same,  86.  M.  Villemain  to  the 
same,  404.  Daniel  Webster  to 
the  same,  298. 
Lewis,  General  Morgan,  16,  44,  note, 


Lewis,  Mrs.  Morgan,  16. 

Lewis,  Major,  380. 

Linlithgovv,  Earls  of,  3,  5,  note. 

Livingstons  of  New  York,  their 
Scotch  pedigree,  1-5.  Early  in 
fluence  of  the  family  in  New  York, 
and  its  decline,  12,  13. 

Livingston,  Brockholdst,  11,48,53, 

.54- 

Livingston,  Charles  Edward,  90, 101. 

Livingston,  Edward,  mention  of,  u. 
His  birth,  15.  Childhood,  29. 
Family  influences,  30.  His  rem 
iniscences  of  General  Montgom 
ery,  32.  Schools,  33.  First  din 
ner  at  Esopus,  Id.  School-life, 
Id. ,  34.  Enters  college  at  Prince 
ton,  38.  His  residence  there,  and 
graduation,  39.  His  habits  of 
study  at  college,  Id.  Early  intel 
lectual  tastes,  40.  Study  of  law, 
41.  Predilection  for  the  civil  law, 
Id.  Admission  to  the  bar,  Id. 
Increased  application  to  study,  42. 
Habits  and  tastes,  Id.  Poetical 
compositions,  Id.  Acquaintance 
with  Lafayette,  43-45.  Extract 
from  a  letter  to  Du  Ponceau,  45. 
Early  practice  of  the  law,  56-59. 
His  habits  at  that  period,  58. 
Lines  to  Longinus,  58,  59.  His 
marriage,  59.  His  first  election 
to  Congress,  59-61.  Canvass  in 
1794,  61-64.  His  first  congres 
sional  career,  64-88.  A  member 
of  the  opposition  under  Wash 
ington's  and  Adams's  administra 
tions,  64.  Vote  against  address 
of  the  House  to  Washington,  65. 
Action  on  the  trials  of  Randall 
and  Whitney,  Id.,  66.  Efforts  in 
behalf  of  American  seamen,  66, 
67.  Course  and  speech  upon  Jay's 
treaty,  67-71.  Exertions  in  be 
half  of  Lafayette  at  Olmutz,  73. 
His  second  election  to  Congress, 
Id.,  74.  Notice  of,  by  La  Roche- 
foucauld-Liancourt,  74.  He  op 
poses  the  establishment  of  the  Na 
val  Department,  75.  Speech  on 
the  Alien  bill,  76-79.  On  the  Se 
dition  bill,  80.  Efforts  for  the  re 
lief  of  the  daughters  of  the  Count 
de  Grasse,  Id.  Third  election  to 
the  House,  81.  Resolutions  re 
flecting  upon  the  course  of  Presi- 


444 


INDEX. 


dent  Adams  in  the  case  of  Jona 
than  Robbins,  Id.  Debate  there 
on,  82.  Earliest  efforts  towards  a 
reformation  of  criminal  law,  83. 
Course  in  the  election  of  Jefferson 
by  the  House  of  Representatives, 
84-87.  Death  of  his  wife,  89. 
Names  of  his  children,  90.  Ap 
pointment  as  Attorney  of  the  Unit 
ed  States,  Id.  And  as  Mayor 
of  New  York,  Id.  His  quali 
ties,  91.  His  industry  in  office, 
92.  Prepares  a  volume  of  law 
reports,  Id.  Lays  the  corner 
stone  of  the  city-hall,  93.  Proj 
ect  for  the  prevention  of  pauper 
ism  and  crime,  addressed  to  the 
Mechanic  Society,  93-97.  Study 
of  Bentham's  writings,  96,  note. 
Social  traits,  97,  98.  Conduct 
during  the  prevalence  of  yellow- 
fever,  98-100.  Illness  and  recov 
ery,  100.  His  position  at  that 
period,  Id.  His  first  great  mis 
fortune,  1 01.  His  debt  to  the 
United  States,  and  the  manner  of 
incurring  it,  101—104.  Conduct 
in  that  difficulty,  104.  Resigna 
tion  of  offices,  Id.  Remains  at 
his  post  till  the  subsidence  of  the 
epidemic,  Id.  Is  succeeded  in  the 
mayoralty  by  De  Witt  Clinton, 
105.  Public  and  private  homage 
paid  to  Livingston,  105-107.  Re 
solves  to  emigrate  to  Louisiana, 
109,  no.  Sails  for  New  Orleans, 
no.  The  voyage,  in.  New 
Orleans  and  its  population  in  1804, 
Id.,  112.  Character  of  the  Cre 
oles,  112,  113.  Energy  of  Mr. 
Livingston  ;  his  activity  at  the  bar, 
113.  His  success,  115.  Acqui 
sition  of  the  Batture  Ste.  Marie, 
Id.  Allusion  to  the  Batture  con 
troversy,  Id.  Mr.  Livingston's 
character  as  a  lawyer,  116.  His 
public  spirit,  Id.  He  opposes  the 
introduction  of  common-law  prac 
tice  in  Louisiana,  Id.,  117.  Pro 
poses  and  frames  a  code  of  pro 
cedure,  117,  1 1 8.  Its  adoption, 
its  features,  Id.  A  confusion  of 
tongues  in  the  courts,  118,  119. 
Address  before  a  Masonic  lodge, 
119,120.  Mr.  Livingston's  meth 
od  in  advocacy,  120,  121.  His 


supremacy  at  the  bar,  121.  Social 
characteristics,  122,  123.  Interest 
in  mechanics,  123.  Homesick 
ness,  124,  125.  Second  marriage, 
Id.  Domestic  happiness,  and  suc 
cess  in  business,  125,  126.  Ob 
stacles  and  dangers,  126.  Calum 
nious  attack  by  General  Wilkin 
son,  126-134.  Spirited  resistance 
by  Mr.  Livingston,  Id.  Bright 
prospects,  134.  The  Batture  con 
troversy,  135—183.  His  answer  to 
Jefferson's  pamphlet,  143.  Ex 
tracts  therefrom,  146-180,  182. 
Circular  letter  to  members  of 
Congress  on  the  subject,  175. 
Temper  of  Mr.  Livingston,  184. 
Effects  of  the  Batture  controversy 
upon  his  affairs,  Id.,  185.  Anec 
dotes,  185,  1 86.  Love  of  poetry, 
1 86.  Fragment  of  translation  from 
Horace,  187.  Anxiety  to  be  re 
united  to  his  children,  Id.  A  voy 
age  to  New  York,  188.  Death 
of  Julia,  Id.  Her  father's  grief, 
Id.  Mr.  Livingston's  services  in 
the  campaign  for  the  defence  of 
New  Orleans,  195.  His  qualifi 
cations  for  the  emergency,  Id. 
Delivers  a  speech  at  a  meeting  of 
citizens,  196.  Serves  on  a  com 
mittee  of  safety,  Id.  Draws  up  an 
address  of  the  committee  to  the 
people,  Id.  Corresponds  with 
General  Jackson  at  Mobile,  197. 
Assists  on  public  reception  of  Jack 
son  at  New  Orleans,  Id.  Serves 
in  various  capacities  under  Jackson, 
198.  Reads  an  address  before  the 
troops,  December  18,  1814,  199. 
Acts  as  aide-de-camp  at  the  battle 
of  December  23,  Id.,  200.  Nolte's 
anecdote,  200.  Influence  in  Jack 
son's  military  councils,  202,  203. 
Confides  the  safety  of  his  family  to 
one  of  the  Lafittes,  204.  Draws 
up  "  General  Orders  "  and  address 
to  the  army,  Id.  Is  sent  to  ar 
range  cartel  for  exchange  of  pris 
oners,  and  is  detained  at  the  Brit 
ish  fleet,  206.  Returns  home  with 
news  of  peace,  207.  Draws  up  de 
fence  of  General  Jackson  before 
Judge  Hall,  208.  Is  presented  by 
General  Jackson  with  the  latter's 
miniature,  Id.  Harmony  and  con- 


INDEX. 


trast  between  him  and  Jackson, 
210.  Renewal  of  the  struggle 
for  pecuniary  independence,  211. 
Parts  a  second  time  with  his  son, 
212.  Unsuccessful  pecuniary  en 
terprises,  243,  244.  Adverse  de 
cision  of  the  court  in  the  Batture 
case,  247.  Mr.  Livingston's  for 
titude  on  that  occasion,  248.  He 
accepts  a  seat  in  the  Louisiana 
legislature,  249.  His  industry  in 
that  body,  Id.  His  labors  upon 
the  civil  code  of  Louisiana,  Id. 
Commences  the  construction  of  his 
system  of  penal  law,  Id.  Sends 
his  son  to  Europe  for  his  health, 
250.  Death  of  Lewis,  253.  In 
tensity  of  the  father's  grief,  254. 
He  finds  a  solace  in  labors  upon 
his  penal  code,  Id.  Is  elected 
to  revise  the  criminal  law  of 
Louisiana,  255.  His  qualifications 
for  the  task,  /</.,  256.  Reports 
his  plan,  257.  Its  approval  by  the 
legislature,  Id.  Completion  of  the 
work,  Id.  Its  destruction  by  fire, 
and  reproduction,  Id.,  258,  291, 
292,  293,  298.  Condition  of 
criminal  laws  of  Louisiana  in 
1820,  258-262.  Some  account 
of  Livingston's  system,  262-275. 
His  explanatory  addresses  to  the 
legislature,  274.  Failure  of  the  lat 
ter  to  act  upon  the  proposed  system, 
Id.  Effect  of  its  publication  abroad, 
Id.,  275.  Reputation  of  the  Code 
and  of  its  author,  276-281.  Mr. 
Livingston's  election  to  Congress 
from  Louisiana,  282.  His  position 
in  the  House,  Id.  Speech  on  roads 
and  canals,  287  and  note.  Speech 
on  the  bill  to  amend  the  judicial 
system,  and  on  the  equality  of  the 
States,  299-303.  On  the  services 
of  Chancellor  Livingston  in  the 
purchase  of  Louisiana,  304-309. 
Exertions  in  behalf  of  the  interests 
of  Louisiana,  309.  Attention  to 
national  works  and  projects,  Id. 
Payment  of  his  debt  to  the  United 
States,  Id.,  310.  Manners  and  so 
cial  habits,  310,  311.  Growth  of 
the  intimacy  with  General  Jackson, 
312—316.  Support  of  Jackson  for 
the  Presidency,  in  1824  and  1828, 
316,  317.  Visit,  public  dinner, 


and  speech  at  Harrisburg,  317- 
322.  Defeat  as  a  candidate  for  re 
election  to  the  House,  322,  324. 
Address  to  constituents  during  the 
canvass,  323.  Election  to  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  324. 
Satisfaction  of  Livingston's  am 
bition,  325.  Promulgation  of  his 
penal  system,  Id.  His  social  and 
domestic  tastes,  Id.  The  desire 
of  the  President  to  employ  him 
in  the  government,  326,  329.  Of 
fer  and  declination  of  the  mission 
to  France,  329.  Speech  on  Foot's 
resolutions,  330-351.  Vindication 
of  himself,  General  Jackson,  and 
others,  for  their  vote  in  the  fourth 
Congress  against  the  address  to 
Washington,  332-342.  Remarks 
on  the  Constitution  and  the  theory 
of  the  Federal  Government,  345- 
347.  On  the  advantages  of  the 
Union,  348-351.  Plan  of  adapt 
ing  the  Livingston  Code  to  the  use 
of  the  General  Government,  352. 
Senatorial  independence,  353,  354. 
Inheritance  of  the  fortune  of  Mrs. 
Montgomery,  355.  Retirement 
to  Montgomery  Place,  356.  Sum 
mons  to  Washington,  and  offer 
and  acceptance  of  the  post  of  Sec 
retary  of  State,  356-359.  Diffi 
dence  as  to  his  qualifications  for 
that  office,  359,  360.  Official  la 
bors,  362.  Personal  and  social 
characteristics,  absence  of  mind, 
punning,  etc.,  363-366.  Scrutiny 
by  the  Senate  into  the  circum 
stances  of  the  settlement  of  ac 
counts  between  the  United  States 
and  Livingston  ;  his  confirmation 
as  Secretary  of  State,  367.  His 
silence  on  that  occasion,  368.  His 
independence  in  office,  Id.,  369. 
His  refusal  to  countenance  a  cal 
umny  upon  Mr.  Clay,  369.  His 
position  upon  the  President's  bank 
policy,  370.  He  draws  up  the  proc 
lamation  to  the  people  of  South 
Carolina,  of  December  10,  1832, 
371-381.  Continued  growth  of 
his  reputation  as  a  publicist,  381, 
382.  His  election  to  the  Institute 
of  France,  382.  Acquaintance 
with  de  Tocqueville,  384.  Tribute 
to  him  by  the  latter,  385.  Unsuc- 


446 


INDEX. 


cessful  attempts  to  keep  a  diary, 
386-390.  Resignation  as  Secre 
tary  of  State,  and  appointment  to 
the  French  legation,  387.  Voy 
age  to  France,  388,  389.  Active 
attention  to  the  business  of  the 
mission,  390-404.  Is  offered  pass 
ports  by  the  French  government, 
396,  397.  He  refuses  them  and 
awaits  instructions,  397.  Answer 
to  the  Comte  de  Rigny,  397-399. 
Approbation  and  further  instruc 
tions  by  the  President,  400.  De 
mands  his  passports  upon  the 
conditional  appropriation  by  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  of  the  money 
due  from  France  to  the  United 
States,  401.  Parting  letter  to  the 
Due  de  Broglie,  Id.  Continued 
attention  of  Livingston  to  the 
promulgation  of  his  views  upon 
penal  law,  404-408.  Latest  in 
tercourse  with  Lafayette,  409. 
Journey  through  Switzerland  and 
Germany,  410.  De  Sellon's  mon 
ument,  Id.  Interview  with  Mit- 
termaier,  411.  Social  traits  and 
temper, /;/.  Correspondence,  41 2. 
Regard  for  Davezac,  413.  Res 
angusta  domi,  414.  Farewell  to 
Davezac,  415.  Homeward  voy 
age,  Id.  Popular  greeting  at  New 
York,  416.  Public  dinners  and 
speeches,  416-422.  Approbation 
of  his  conduct  by  the  government 
and  the  country,  422.  Retirement 
to  Montgomery  Place,  423.  Oc 
cupations  and  associations  there, 
423-425.  His  last  visit  at  Wash 
ington  and  appearance  in  the  Su 
preme  Court,  425,  426.  Tribute 
to  Jefferson,  426.  Visit  at  the 
White  House  with  Mr.  Barton, 
427,  428.  Consultation  with  the 
President  as  to  a  special  message 
to  Congress  relative  to  the  affair 
with  France,  428,  429.  Return 
to  Montgomery  Place,  431.  Last 
illness  and  death,  /</.,  432.  Pub 
lic  and  private  honors  paid  to  his 
memory,  433,  434-  His  charac 
ter,  434-439.  Vide  Letters  and 
Extracts. 

Livingston,  Gilbert,  10,  12. 

Livingston,   Henry   B.,  16,  32,  44, 


Livingston,  Rev.  John  H.,  12. 

Livingston,  John  R.,  16,  24,43,  IIO» 
423- 

Livingston,  Julia  E.  M.,  90,  114, 187, 
1 8 8.  Vide  Letters  and  Extracts. 

Livingston,  Lewis,  90,  114,  189,  194, 
198,  199,  212,  244,246,247,  250, 
252>  253-  Vide  Letters  and  Ex 
tracts. 

Livingston,  Manor  of,  6-ir. 

Livingston,  Peter  R.,  16. 

Livingston,  Mrs.  Peter  R.,  16. 

Livingston,  Philip,  second  proprietor 
of  Livingston  Manor,  10. 

Livingston,  Philip,  signer  of  Decla 
ration  of  Independence,  n. 

Livingston,  Philip,  a  competitor  of 
Edward  Livingston  for  Congress 
in  1798,  61. 

Livingston,  Robert,  ancestor  of  the 
Livingstons  of  New  York,  5-10. 

Livingston,  Robert,  (the  2d,)  10,  n, 
1 8-2 1.  Vide  Letters  and  Extracts. 

Livingston,  Robert,  last  proprietor 
of  the  Manor,  10,  u. 

Livingston,  Robert,  12. 

Livingston,  Judge  Robert  R.,  (father 
of  Edward  Livingston,)  n.  His 
death,  u,  30.  His  family,  15, 
16,  30.  His  marriage,  16.  His 
character,  21,  27.  A  member  of 
the  Stamp  Act  Congress,  21. 
His  judicial  independence,  26. 
His  character  as  drawn  by  his 
wife,  27.  By  Smith,  the  histo 
rian,  Id.  His  country-seat,  29. 
His  town-house,  Id.,  56.  Vide 
Letters  and  Extracts. 

Livingston,  Mrs.  Robert  R.,  (Mar 
garet  Beekman,  mother  of  Ed 
ward  Livingston,)  16,  27,  28,  37, 
38,  45,  56-58,  60,  89,  note.  Vide 
Letters  and  Extracts. 

Livingston,  Chancellor  Robert  R., 
ir,  15,  19,  note,  20,  26,  30,  35, 
48,  108,  193,  361,  note.  Vide 
Letters  and  Extracts. 

Livingston,  William,  Governor  of 
New  Jersey,  n. 

Livingston,  William  S.,  50. 

Livingston  Creek,  9. 

Livingstone,  Sir  Alexander,  of  Cal 
endar,  r,  2,  3. 

Livingstone,  Alexander,  fifth  lord,  3. 

Livingstone,  Alexander,  seventh 
lord,  created  Earl  of  Linlithgow,  3. 


INDEX. 


447 


Livingstone,  Rev.  Alexander,  4,  5, 
note. 

Livingstone,  Sir  Alexander,  present 
claimant  of  baronetcy  and  earl 
dom,  3. 

Livingstone,  James,  first  lord,  3. 

Livingstone,  John  4,  5,  note. 

Livingstone,  Rev.  John,  4,  5. 

Livingstone,  Mary,  maid  of  honor  to 
Mary  Stuart,  3. 

Livingstone,  Thurstanus,  3,  4. 

Livingstone,  Rev.  William,  4,  5, 
note. 

London,  Samuel,  printer,  etc.,  47. 

Louis  Philippe,  383,  391,  392,  395, 

396/ 

Louisiana,  purchase  of,  107,  108, 
304-308. 

Madison,  James,  member  of  Con 
gress  in  1795,  64.  Course  on 
Jay's  treaty,  68,  69,  73. 

Maine,  Dr.  H.  S.,  his  remarks  upon 
Edward  Livingston,  278  and  note. 

Marshall,  John,  his  first  appearance 
in  Congress,  81.  Speech  on  Mr. 
Livingston's  resolutions  in  the 
case  of  Jojtathan  Robbins,  82,  83. 

Mazureau,  Etienne,  121,  122,  24Q. 
Vide  Letters  and  Extracts. 

McEvers,  Anna,  59. 

McEvers,  Charles,  59. 

McEvers,  Eliza,  59,  no. 

McEvers,  Mary,  her  marriage  to 
Edward  Livingston,  59.  Her 
person  and  character,  Id.  Her 
death,  89. 

McLane,  Louis,  358,  391,  392,  394, 
395  and  note. 

Mignet,  M.,  his  eulogy  upon  Liv 
ingston,  434  and  note. 

Mitchill,  Dr.  Samuel  L.,  84,  217. 

Mittermaier,  Professor,  anecdote  of, 
411. 

Monroe,  James,  his  share  in  the  pur 
chase  of  Louisiana,  108,  304,  308. 

Montgomery,  General  Richard,  15, 
20,  31,  32,  244-246. 

Montgomery,  Mrs.  Richard,  15,  31, 
32,  45,  245,  246,  355.  Vide  Let- 
ters  and  Extracts. 

Montgomery  Place,  description  of, 
355- 

Nash,  Thomas,  alias  Jonathan  Rob- 
bins,  the  case  of,  81-83. 


Naval  Department,  establishment  of, 

75- 

Netherlands,  the  King  of  the,  sends 
a  medal  to  Mr.  Livingston,  279. 

New  York,  city  of,  in  1785,  46,  47. 
Sketches  of  members  of  the  bench 
and  bar  in,  after  the  Revolution, 
48-56. 

Nichols,  Colonel,  his  attempt  to  in 
duce  Lafitte  to  join  the  British  in 
the  invasion  of  New  Orleans,  203. 

Nicolas,  Emperor  of  Russia,  278. 
Vide  Letters  and  Extracts. 

Nolte,  Vincent,  200  and  note. 

Parton,  James,  references  to  his  Life 

of  J.ackson,  370,  380. 
Princeton  College,  38,  39. 
Putnam,  General,  39. 

Randall,  Robert,  trial  of,  65,  66. 

Randolph,  John,  of  Roanoke,  283, 
382,  note.  Vide  Letters  and  Ex 
tracts. 

Reid,  Captain  John,  200,  208,  209 
and  note.  Vide  Letters  and  Ex 
tracts. 

Rigny,  Comte  de,  396,  397,  400. 

Ritchie,  Alexander  H.,  engraver  of 
the  plates  in  this  volume,  208, 
note. 

Rives,  William  C.,  329. 

Robbins,  Jonathan,  alias  Thomas 
Nash,  the  case  of,  in  Congress, 
81-83. 

Schuyler,  Alida,  6,  10. 

Schuyler,  Margaretta,  12. 

Schuyler,  Pieter,  6,  12. 

Sedgwick,  Theodore,  a  member  of 
Congress  in  1795,  64.  He  takes 
part  in  the  discussions  upon  Jay's 
treaty,  68,  69. 

Sedgwick,  Theodore,  Junior,  416. 
His  character  of  Livingston,  433. 

Sedition  bill,  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  75-80. 

Sellon,  M.  de,  410. 

Sempill,  Lord,  3. 

Serrurier,  M.,  396,  397. 

Slavery,  in  the  State  of  New  York, 

3°- 

Smith,  Melancthon,  48,  51. 
Smith,  Dr.  Southwood,  276. 
Smith,  William,  historian  of  New 

York,  27. 


448 


INDEX. 


Taillandier,  M.,  his  remarks  upon 
the  Livingston  Code,  278. 

Taylor,  Daniel,  (the  British  spy,) 
execution  of,  36. 

Tillotson,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas,  16. 
Vide  Letters  and  Extracts. 

Tocqueville,  Alexis  de,  384,  385. 

Troup,  Robert,  48. 

Valle,  M.,  painter  of  General  Jack 
son's  miniature,  208,  note. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  283,  356,  358, 
367,  400,  427,  428,  436.  Vide 
Letters  and  Extracts. 

Van  Ness,  William  P.,  86. 

Varick,  Richard,  51,  90,  91. 

Vaughan,  General,  36. 

Verplanck,  Gulian  C.,  42,  note. 

Villemain,  M.,  his  remarks  on  the 
Livingston  Code,  277,  278,  404, 
4°5- 


Waddell,  W.  Coventry  H.,  his  rem 
iniscences  of  Edward  Livingston, 

363>  364: 

Wallace,  Sir  James,  36. 

Watson,  James,  61,  74. 

Watts,  John,  61. 

Webster,  Daniel,  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  283.  In  the  Sen 
ate,  330.  In  the  Supreme  Court, 
425.  Vide  Letters  and  Extracts. 

White,  Hugh  L.,  358. 

Whitney,  Charles,  his  trial,  65, 
66. 

Wilkinson,  General  James,  his  pro 
ceedings  against  Mr.  Livingston 
and  others  at  New  Orleans  in 
1806,  126-133. 

Witherspoon,  Dr.  John,  his  career 
and  character,  38,  39. 

Woodbury,  Levi,  358. 


THE    END. 


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